Sky
by Trinity23Rose
Summary: Marcus Kane never thought he would be able to fall in love. Also, he never anticipated that the girl Jaha wanted to marry would be the one to change his whole life.
1. Chapter 1

**Description: **Marcus Kane never thought he would be able to fall in love. Also, he never anticipated that the girl Jaha wanted to marry would be the one to change his whole life.

**AN: **Jaha doesn't have a son here and he wasn't married before either.

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><p><strong>Part 1<strong>

"I'm telling you, I finally found her," Jaha was just saying to Marcus after the weekly Council meeting.

"You found whom?" Marcus asked, not really following.

"I met a girl and she's everything I ever wanted her to be," Thelonious explained with that characteristic spark in his eyes. He was already too infatuated, Marcus thought.

"Don't you think the timing isn't right here?" Kane dared notice. "Chancellor, our whole civilization may soon come to an end if you don't do something about it. You cannot be possibly thinking about…"

"I'm not as stupid as to bring another being to life," Jaha interrupted Marcus harshly. "I know we have a problem with overpopulation, but this doesn't mean I cannot marry. I just want someone to come home to."

"Marry?" Marcus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You just met her and you want to…"

"I'm telling you, Marcus, once you see the one, you just know. Of course I won't propose to her now, that would be foolish, but I'm sure it's her. Never in my life a girl has made such an impression on me."

"Well, then congratulations are in order I believe," Kane said with a small smile that yet didn't reach his eyes. He was too much bothered by the overpopulation problem. Even if the plan to send the 100 to the ground works, they still didn't have enough dropships for the rest to follow. And they certainly didn't have the resources and means to build new ones.

"I'll introduce her to you tonight and you'll see how amazing a woman she is," Thelonious said when placing his hand briefly on Marcus's arm.

"What does she do on the ship?" Marcus asked out of sheer curiosity. If Jaha, the Chancellor and therefore the most important person onboard, was taken with a girl, she must be special.

"She the advisor."

"Really?" Marcus once again raised his eyebrows. He'd thought once that being an advisor, by some also called a listener, wasn't worth anybody's time, but paradoxically, the longer people lived in space, the more of them started panicking. They were afraid the humanity would forever be locked in a ship drifting through space. They were scared something would malfunction and they would all die, being released into the universe as all those who were being floated. Marcus had to admit those fears had grounds, but of course, the Council couldn't just tell people that. Yes, maybe in their times, people really needed someone to talk to. Someone that would listen and help them deal with their personal problems. Only Marcus was never one of those people that would seek help. He needed to be strong in order to be the one helping. Not by listening to everyone's problem, but by trying to figure a way out for all of them. His job was to make sure they all survived long enough to be able to come back to Earth.

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><p>Sky Forbes was just finishing her last session for the day. The woman that came to her for help was grieving after her husband's death. She didn't know how to go on without him since they could never have children. Not even because of the Gaia doctrine, they just weren't lucky enough to conceive and there wasn't enough medicine and means on the ship to help infertile couples. Now the poor woman was left all alone and she needed help. It was in situations like this one that Sky truly felt like she chose the right calling. So many people sought out her help, so many people needed her and she was truly helping them. Not all her patients were so lucky to finally find peace, but she did what she could and was very proud of some of her results. One she could be sure of, without her, those people would truly be lost. And she was the only one who decided to be the advisor. The only one on the whole ship.<p>

The session came to an end and the woman, though still not in a good shape, thanked Sky and slowly made her way to the door. Sky knew she wouldn't be able to help her right away, but she had hope for the future. She had to have it.

The woman passed the Chancellor in the door and nodded in greeting.

Sky almost sighed. She still didn't know what it was that she felt toward Thelonious Jaha, but she was afraid it would not go any deeper than that. She liked him, in fact, she liked him very much. When he'd first asked her out, she'd been flattered. He was an handsome man and she noticed that, she did, but she started to doubt that there would be anything more between them than friendship. _Now, try to tell him that_, she thought with a frown. How could she turn down the Chancellor? Would he punish her? Would he degrade her? Was he capable of it just because of a wounded ego? She wasn't sure. Everyone she knew either fear or respected the Council members. Maybe respected out of fear, that one Sky would never truly find out. She was sure any other girl in her place would jump the opportunity and would already be trying to tie the knot. Not her. She just… She just didn't feel it.

"Have you finished for today?" Jaha asked with a pleasant smile on his face.

Sky reciprocated. Why else could she do?

"Yes." She nodded. "Is there something you want?"

"You know very well what I want. Come and have dinner with me," he suggested, reaching his arm out to her.

She had no choice but to hold on to him as they made their way out of the room and started walking toward the diner.

"Chancellor Jaha," she started, desperate to finally have that talk she was so afraid of.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me by my name? I'm not a Chancellor to you, Sky," he chastised her.

"Thelonious, then," she corrected herself, but before she managed to finish, he cut in again.

"There's someone I want you to meet. You have to know who Kane, my friend in the Council, is."

"Of course, but I never spoke to him."

"That's about to change."

They entered the diner and Jaha led Sky toward Marcus. Even though officially they were members of the Council, in private they were very good friends. Marcus called Thelonious the Chancellor out of habit, but he treated him like someone closer than just his boss nevertheless. Naturally, Jaha sought Marcus's approval. He'd seen the surprise on Kane's face as he'd told him about Sky. Then he could tell his friend had been judging him for not thinking about the survival of the human race and falling in love instead, especially in the times they were living.

"Marcus, this is Sky Forbes, the woman I told you about," Thelonious introduced them. "Sky, Marcus Kane, a Council member and my close friend."

"Pleased to meet you, Councilor Kane," Sky said as Marcus turned to look at her.

He was nearly struck by the blue in her eyes. Thelonious hadn't done her any justice when he'd described her earlier and he'd clearly omitted the things worth mentioning. He hadn't told Marcus that Sky had the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen and they looked amazing in contrast to her long black and slightly wavy hair. It wasn't straight, but it wasn't curly either. Her skin reminded Marcus of alabaster, at least that was one of the epithets one could use to describe someone's skin centuries ago.

Sky Forbes was strikingly beautiful and Marcus could only hope it wasn't the only feature that made Jaha fall in love so fast.

"Call me Marcus," Kane said when shaking Sky's hand as they were looking at each other for a longer moment trying to assess what the other was thinking. There was also something hanging in the air, something like a mutual understanding and kinship between them. It was definitely a connection Sky hadn't felt when meeting Thelonious. There was something about Marcus Kane that spoke to her. Maybe he was just more her type than Jaha was? He was tall, his body lean with a nice tone to it and then, she saw his eyes. They were so brown and so warm. It contradicted all the nasty rumors that she kept hearing about the guy's malevolence. Well, they didn't speak of Jaha well either. Not after so many ill-grounded floatings.

"Ok, we'll go have dinner now," Thelonious decided, pulling Sky away from Marcus. He was completely oblivious to what just passed through those two.

As Sky was walking away she couldn't help but look back at Kane and into his eyes.

Marcus just stood there, feeling like he'd just seen light in the dark universe they were drifting in. Then he felt ashamed of all those silly thoughts. Weren't he the one to tell Jaha to focus on the survival of their species instead of on some girl? Besides, Jaha was the Chancellor, he had the right to Sky, because he'd met and taken an interest in her first.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Response to Anonymously Anon's comment: **Really? Happy to be at service! Thanks for the interest! You can be sure this won't be left abandoned : ) PS: I already wrote one fic about Kane and OC, although it was a little bit controversial as she was one of the 100 being sent to the ground. If you're interested, it's called Survive (and there's video as well: ))

**AN2: **Yesterday when I was writing the first part I was listening to Will Not Back Down song by The Calling and once I heard the word 'sky' in it I had to vid it. Viding this story also inspired me to figure it out further:

Youtube

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><p>watch?v=roQGJJdLxeU<p>

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><p>You know what to do, and if you don't - there's full link in my profile<p>

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><p><strong>Part 2<strong>

Marcus didn't really approved of what Jaha had done. Being in the Council meant being secretive. The Councilors couldn't even talk to their families about the matters discussed on the meeting. Marcus certainly never talked to his mother about them. Not that he talked to her a lot these days. He loved and respected her, but they saw the world differently. She was a person of great faith, a dreamer almost, whereas he was a man of science. He believed in numbers, in what he could prove and in what he saw on the computer simulations. And those simulations weren't good. They had to send the 100 to the Earth as they planned, because there was truly no other choice, but the odds of their survival were very small. For all Marcus knew, they would land on Earth and be killed by the radiation within hours, maybe days, but that was it. And then the Council would have to sacrifice about 300 hundred people in order to buy the rest more time on the ship, more time to maybe, just maybe, land on Earth a year later and hope for the best. It they even had a year. They could as well all kill themselves now. That was why Marcus couldn't understand why Thelonious would just tell all of that to Sky. He understood his friend's need to talk to someone, but being the Chancellor meant being responsible. Jaha had no right to even go to Sky's advisor's session, nor talk to her as a husband would. They weren't even married for Christ's sake!

That was how it started. Sky knew more than any other person on the ship that wasn't on the Council. She was more present around Jaha and Kane than Marcus would like her to. He felt strange in her presence and he didn't even bother thinking it over. That would bring him no good, he knew it. Surprisingly, after a week he had to admit he was wrong about the girl. She was really trustworthy just like Jaha had assured him she was. Marcus didn't like to be wrong, so it really pained him. The fact that she seemed to be genuinely interested in the fate of the human race and wanted to help when not showing any fear herself was remarkable. Maybe she really chose her profession because she felt it to be her true calling. Recently she started talking a lot to Marcus and it surprised him. Why did she keep asking him questions when she could just ask Jaha? Still, her relationship with the Chancellor didn't seem to go anywhere, so maybe she was just avoiding getting closer to him. Was she afraid to say 'no' to him? Marcus started wondering. He needed to admit that he'd gained a new friend. They shared common interest and even if she seemed to be rather a dreamer than a realistic person, Marcus told himself it was a perfect balance. Balance for what? He should wonder, but he rather not.

"I just think I should talk to every one of the 100," Sky kept on trying to convince Thelonious. "And I'm serious. Those are just kids. They'll be afraid and they'll start panicking and who knows what's down there…"

"Exactly, who knows?" Jaha interrupted her, nearly losing his temper. "Sky, we just don't have the time! We need to send them _now_ and I'm sorry, but a few sessions with them before the launch won't make them feel better."

"Then let me go with them!" Sky suggested in last, desperate attempt to find a common ground.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Jaha screamed so loud that everyone in the control room looked at him. "Sky, I can't let you do that. I won't send you to your death," he added in a much quieter voice as he placed his hands on her shoulders and bent down to look her straight in the eye. "Do you understand me? This is absolutely out of the question. You mean too much to me."

"And those kids? Don't you care about them?" Sky just answered like Jaha's outburst didn't affect her at all. She shook his hands away and went on, "How can you not care about them?" she repeated.

"Some of them are murderers and they would have no chance at their retrial," Jaha just answered in a voice that suddenly hardened. It was like he got offended because Sky didn't care about him as much as he did about her.

"Not all of them. In fact only a few," she corrected, still fighting. "Most of them got there by mistake. What about that girl whose only crime was that she was born? Her mother already had a child and then you executed her because of it. Why sending the girl away, Thelonious?"

"Ok, that's enough," Marcus said in a shooting voice when coming between those two. "I don't think this conversation is going anywhere. Chancellor, please, calm down," he turned to his friend. "Go and give the signal to launch. Sky," now Marcus turned to her, looking into the blue pupils of her that never ceased to enchant him. "It's not worth it. You won't win and just because he would never incarcerate you doesn't mean you can test him this way."

"But Marcus," she said when he grabbed her arms gently and pulled her out of the control room, "how can he do this?"

"He's the leader and he has to make the tough decisions. People will always hate him for that, but it's necessary. It's not only about the individual those days, Sky, it's about the survival of our species."

"I know, but still… it sounds so cruel, Marcus. What will become of us as humans if we keep going like this? Is it even worth it? Is the survival worth it all? We'll eventually lose out humanity."

"Do you think it's easy for him? Don't you think that Jaha…" Marcus stopped for a moment and then changed his mind, speaking in a much more honest voice. Sky seemed to bring a gentler side out of him. He couldn't be hard around her like he usually was around other people including his own mother. "Do you think we all sleep well? Every one of us, every one of the Council member has troubles sleeping because of all the lives we wasted. Still, we have no choice. Can you understand that?"

Sky's eyes filled up with tears that she fought so hard not to show. He could feel her body slightly shaking under his touch and that made him realize he still hadn't let go of her. He did that now. He couldn't look at her being so broken. It was like seeing the most beautiful and gentle thing on Earth - on the ship when it came to them - breaking, losing its shine. He still couldn't understand how someone so strikingly beautiful on the outside could be as equally beautiful on the inside. It was a very rare thing. Scratch that, Marcus thought, it never happened. He knew all the pretty and snobby girls from Phoenix all too well. He dated some when he was younger. Sky was nothing like them. She truly was a gem.

He wanted to say something nice to her. He wanted to put his arms around her so she would feel better, so she could feel his support, but before he managed to do that, people started shouting inside the control room. Then a horde of guards quickly passed by them.

"What happened?" Marcus asked Sinclair.

"Somebody forced their way into the dropship and shot the Chancellor!" he got in answer.

In that moment Marcus's face truly went white.

"Oh my god!" Sky squealed when covering her mouth with her hands and then grabbing Marcus's hand and squeezing it. "Marcus…"

"It's all right," he found himself saying. "It'll all right. He won't die. He can't die. We'll save him," he promised. "Where is he?!" He asked Sinclair.

"Transferred to medical. Dr Griffin's already working on him. There's a chance, but a slight one."

"Sky, hey, look at me!" Marcus had to raise his voice so she would stop crying. Then he found himself cupping her face and locking his eyes with hers. Beauty in the breakdown, came through his mind. Wasn't there a song like this once? "He will be all right," he repeated, silently praying that it wouldn't turn out to be a lie.

"Marcus… no… I mean… It's not like…" Sky started but then he finally hugged her and she forgot what she was trying to say in the first place. All that mattered was his arms around her, her body next to his, his beating heart against her own. His smell invaded her senses and she couldn't deny it any longer. It wasn't Thelonious she wanted.

When Marcus finally let her go, she was still stunned by her discovery, so he asked, "All right?" in a hesitant and a very unsure voice.

She nodded quickly and wiped the tears away from her eyes.

Then she asked a question that completely and utterly bewildered him, "Marcus, why do you care about him so much?"

"Excuse me?" Marcus asked, not really following. Maybe she was losing her mind out of grief?

"Why won't you put yourself first for a change?" she paraphrased. "Why won't you put yourself before the law? Before everything else?"

Both their eyes spoke mountains in this moment, but none of them went any further. None of them said what the other really wanted to hear.

"I… I'll check up on him," Marcus just said in a slightly hoarse voice and forced his legs to move, to walk away from Sky. Was she really letting him know that she felt something, too? That it wasn't only one-sided? That it was actually mutual?

He shook his head. He had a job to do. His friend, the one who was in love with Sky and had the guts to let her know before Marcus had even gotten to know her, was now shot and could die. It wouldn't be right if Kane made a move. He might be seen as the villain by most of the people on the ship, but he refused to be one. He knew the difference between right and wrong. Also, he knew what had to be done in order to save humanity even if it cost a few lives on the way. His own life didn't matter to him that much. He wasn't an egoist. He would gladly die for his species, but he knew deep down inside that he was the only one in the Council who was willing to do what it took to save them all. Jaha saw it, too, but he was easily manipulated by the rest. He was a believer and Marcus was a realist. Still, it didn't make any decision easier. If so, it isolated him from the rest more.

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><p>He felt lost again. These days he didn't even know what it meant not to feel this way. What should he do? He couldn't make a huge decision based only on his emotions. If he'd done it in the past, they would've all probably already been dead. So now, when doctor Abigail Griffin exceeded the ration of medicine for one patient, he couldn't just let her go. If he did, others would soon follow in her footsteps when it came to other things. They would steal food or take more rations. They would start running along the ship, wasting the precious air. Things like that. And Marcus couldn't let it happen. He had to follow the law even if it pained him. Griffin needed to die. Even if she just saved the Chancellor's life. She still needed to pay for her crime.<p>

"We always have a choice, Marcus." Kane almost jumped in surprise when he heard Sky's voice.

"You shouldn't be here. You don't want to watch this," he said in a soft voice as he turned to her. Griffin was just about to be floated.

Still, Sky refused to go away. She place a hand on Marcus's shoulder instead and made him feel uncomfortable. Not because he didn't want her to touch him, but because he so badly did. Her hand was scorching him in a pleasant way.

"I see that lost man behind those walls of yours," Sky continued. "I wish you showed him to everyone. He might be lost, but his heart is in the right place."

"I need to ensure our survival, Sky," Marcus's voice suddenly hardened and she let go off his shoulder, leaving it strangely cold and bare.

In this very moment, when doctor Griffin was just about to be floated, they heard Jaha's voice, "Stop! Doctor Griffin is pardoned!" He stumbled into the chamber when holding on to his abdomen, the place he got shot earlier. "Marcus, I know you just do what you think must be done, but sometimes we have to learn when not to follow the law," he turned to Kane. The man didn't say anything in response and refused to meet Abigail's eyes as she just stood next to him.

"Thelonious, you need to rest," she said. "You're still hurt."

"I'll be fine, Abby, thank you." Next, he turned to Sky. "I thought I'd never see you again," he said in a soft voice and placed his hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry about what I said before. I never meant to hurt you."

Marcus felt an unpleasant knot tying in his stomach and he was about to turn around and walk away when he saw something that both made him hope for the future and hate himself in the same time.

Jaha leaned toward Sky, clearly wanting to kiss her, but just in the last moment she turned her face, so his lips would land on her cheek.

"I'm glad you're alive, Thelonious," she said then, hugged him briefly when being very careful not to cause him any physical pain and walk away.

Something told Marcus than the physical pain wouldn't be the worst for Jaha.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

"_I'm sorry, Thelonious, but… I… I just don't feel the same way. I don't feel for you the way you want me to. Can you respect that?"_ Sky's words kept on echoing in Jaha's head and he couldn't focus on the very important Council meeting he was in right now. They had to decide what to do. They had to either sentence over 300 people to their deaths or not when risking jeopardizing the whole population. The 100 were still dying and even though Abby suggested they might be taking off their bracelets, Jaha had troubles believing it. She wanted to see her daughter again, so she chose to believe the impossible rather than start dealing with the terrible lost she probably suffered.

"We have _no _time," Marcus emphasized when arguing with her. "We can't just do nothing and keep hoping for the best. The 100 haven't contacted us by now and they keep dying. We need more time on the Ark."

"I believe that they are still alive." Doctor Griffin was being stubborn. "They had to be."

"And what kind of a proof do you have?"

Jaha still didn't speak. In fact, he kept on thinking about Sky and he knew now what Marcus had meant earlier by telling him that it wasn't the best time to start a relationship. Thinking about the girl consumed Thelonious completely and he found himself unable to participate in one of the most important discussions about the fate of their very species. He just kept coming back to the day before when Sky had told him she didn't feel the same way, that she liked him as a friend and they couldn't be anything more.

_"Sky, I want to give you _everything_," Jaha emphasized, clearly not understanding why she would refuse _him_. "You can be Mrs. Chancellor. You can have the respect and admiration of every single person on this ship. You will be known and…"_

_ "It's not _my _everything, Thelonious," she interrupted him with a sad face. "I'm sorry. I really hope you can understand this." After that she just walked away._

"Chancellor!" Kane's sharp voice woke Jaha out of his reverie. "Are you with us?" Marcus asked when Thelonious finally looked at him. "This is important and we need to reach a decision now."

"I'm sorry," Jaha apologized. "Present the case."

"It's what we've been doing for the past half an hour," Abigail said. "I think we should wait."

"Every hour of waiting means that we will need to sacrifice that much more people," Marcus contradicted her angrily. "I want to save them, too, believe me, Abigail, I do, but there is just no way we can do this. We need to make the hard decision or we'll all going to die very soon."

"All right," Jaha said, agreeing. "Marcus, you have my permission to start reducing the population."

"But Thelonious…" Abby started, clearly mad at him.

"My decision is final, Councilor Griffin," he said in a hard voice and stood up. "Meeting abjured."

"Are you all right, Chancellor?" Marcus came over to him when everybody else cleared the room.

"Yes. It's just a difficult thing that we need to do."

"Don't lie to me. I know your distraction had nothing to do with the meeting. Is it Sky?" Kane asked.

Thelonious just sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She told me she doesn't have feelings for me. She wants to be friends," he finally confessed.

"I'm sorry," Marcus said honestly.

"I just don't understand," Thelonious added. "Every single woman on this ship would like to be in her position. Hell! Even those who aren't single anymore!"

"And that is exactly what makes Sky so special. She doesn't care about any title. You can't buy her. She chooses to follow her own morals," Marcus said.

Jaha just nodded. "She is special, that one. If she ever choose a man, he'll be one lucky guy. Now… you're right, Marcus. We need to focus on our survival."

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><p>Abigail Griffin once more came dangerously close to being floated. She showed the whole ship a video her husband made just before he died and Kane was angry at her for causing panic.<p>

"This will spread like a wildfire and what if we can't contain them all?!" he yelled at her when he finally caught her. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?! You truly want us all to die?!"

Yet, somehow people on the Ark reacted contrary to what Marcus thought and once again, thanks to the Chancellor, Griffin dodged a bullet. Maybe they should marry each other, Kane thought sarcastically. Jaha was Abby's knight in shining armor every time she broke the law. Kane quickly stopped thinking about that when people started showing up and volunteering to die in order to buy their loved ones more time. It was shocking and terrifying, but in the same time made the whole thing easier for the Council as they didn't have to chose who was going to die.

Marcus was hanging on there, even when he had to persuade the Chancellor not to die as he knew well that Jaha was needed. His cool demeanor yet worn off when he spotted Sky entering the room.

Before the woman managed to get to the table when people were entering their names to the tablet, Marcus was by her side, grabbing her arm and yanking her back into the hall.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed angrily when they found themselves in a quiet corner. "Sky, I will _not_ watch you die."

His eyes were so intense when he said those words that she found herself being briefly mesmerized by them. In fact, all his presence was emanating with some primal male power as he addressed her. He would never let her die and she needed to accept that, end of discussion. If it was any other situation, she would huff in indignation and give him a piece of her mind, telling him how she could decide for herself and he could as well quit being the macho since she wouldn't give in. This time was yet different. This time she actually felt appreciated. Marcus cared about her enough to keep her alive.

"I wasn't going to volunteer," she finally said, breaking the pregnant silence and she could see the tension that had been coiling in his body to finally break down. He could release his breath.

"So what were you doing there?" he asked, forcing himself to be calm.

"I was trying to stop someone, but then I realized I had no right to."

"Who?" Kane asked, this time intrigued.

"A woman who's been seeing me for weeks now. She's all alone as she lost her husband recently and they never had any child. I was trying to help her. I was trying to make her see that even though she's all alone, there's still some beauty in life."

"Sky," Marcus said her name in a soft voice. He was so lost when it came to her. He was trying hard to fight this, to push those feelings away, nearly exorcise them in order not to become the man Jaha was right now. He needed to think of the whole humanity. He didn't have the time for a romance right now. Still, she managed to get to him, to break his walls every single time. And she was doing it as easily as they were made out of glass, not the usual steel. Simply her words were enough. She was such an compassionate and amazing person.

"I know, I know," she said to his surprise. "I have no right to convince her to stay. I told her that she might eventually go to Earth, but she said she saw all the wonders of life when she was with her husband. She said she didn't need to see the beauty of Earth, because she saw the beauty in…" she hesitated for a moment and then looked Marcus in the eye, "in love. Isn't _that _beautiful?"

"It is," Marcus agreed for the lack of anything better to say.

"And now she decided to sacrifice herself for others, younger people as she said, to give them a chance, to give them more time. So I need to let her go."

"I know letting go is hard," Marcus admitted when reaching his hand to Sky's face and brushing away one stray tear from her cheek.

"So no, I wasn't going there to die. Maybe I should. Maybe I should volunteer. After all, I'm all alone, too, but I… I just can't do it. Does this make me a bad person?" she suddenly asked.

"No. Of course not. You're still young. You deserve more time."

"I'm 29. It's not that young."

"I'm 37. That's even more," he teased her.

"But people need you," she suddenly said. "Without you the Council would be lost."

He couldn't believe she actually said that. He couldn't believe she understood that. She pleasantly surprised him once again.

"People need you, too. You're the only advisor this ship has."

"Marcus!" they heard Jaha calling him. "We need you here."

"I'll see you later, Sky," Marcus quickly said his goodbye and left.

Jaha would clearly prefer Sky came to him when she had a problem, but with everything that had happened between them he knew he needed to give her time.

"Is she ok?" he just asked and Marcus nodded in response.

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><p>He couldn't believe it. He just… It was impossible. It contradicted science, their simulations, it was… It was a miracle, Marcus realized when standing by the altar on which there was a small tree. The only tree the colony had. A symbol of their survival, a symbol of hope that one day they would all be able to come back to Earth.<p>

The 100 were alive. They were on Earth. Some of them were gone, that was true, but nearly not as many as they thought. And it wasn't the radiation that killed them. They simply weren't alone, having found survivors on Earth and completely antagonizing them merely by their very presence. And all those lives on the Ark… All those sacrifices… were for _nothing_.

The knowledge of that nearly leveled Marcus. He felt like he killed all those people. He felt like it was all his fault, like those deaths were suffocating him, burdening him. He couldn't take it. He couldn't. Maybe he should've died with them. Maybe that would've been enough of peace for him.

For the first time in his life he was truly lost. Everything he knew, everything he believed in was just turned upside down. Everything changed and he couldn't comprehend it all anymore. He was wrong. He made a mistake. It only made him human, but still, he couldn't believe that he'd been so sure about something that turned out not to be the truth, not to be the right thing to do.

Then there was someone else's presence in the chamber. And then there was a hand placed on his shoulder from behind. He didn't need to turn around, he knew well who that was. Somehow he could feel it in his already aching heart. Maybe if he could rip it out, it would finally stop hurting…

"Three. Hundred. Twenty. People," he said slowly, pain palpable in his voice. "I killed them all."

"You did not," Sky said in a calm voice when gently squeezing his shoulder. "You didn't make that decision alone. It was as much Jaha's as it was yours, Marcus. Yours and the whole Council."

"Some of them were against it," Marcus said anyway. "And I pushed. I pushed so hard. And they all caved." His body shook slightly like he was fighting tears.

"Marcus, you and I both know that there wouldn't be enough dropships for all of us anyway," she spoke again. "At least this way they died peacefully instead of in terror."

"They died in vain." His voice grew bitter.

"No, they didn't. It was their choice. It was the greatest gift you could've given them. Yes, it was," she repeated when he looked at her with confusion on his face. "They chose to die peacefully so the rest of us could make it to the Earth. You know what a horrible death it would be for those who stayed behind with no means of ever getting out of here."

"Thank you," was all Marcus managed to say before he finally fell apart. He closed his eyes and winced, trying to stop the tears, but eventually they came anyway and his body shook in crying spasms. He wanted to run away from her, he wanted to hide, but she didn't let him. She just put her arms around him and let him cry on her shoulder while she held him and drew gentle circles on his back.

They didn't know that Marcus's mother was watching them from the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

It was the Remembrance day and almost everyone gathered up in the Great Hall to celebrate. Still, this year no one was truly happy, the faces of the people that came didn't smile because of what had had happened in the last few days. The Colony found out about the 100 being on the ground and first they were elated that they could make it to the ground, but then they remembered all those people that had already sacrificed their lives. Needless to say, Marcus and Jaha weren't the most popular people on the Ark right now. People either avoided them or spoke something harsh toward them, not even being afraid of getting arrested. A week ago Marcus would've put them all into confinement, but now… Now he didn't know if that would be the right thing to do anymore. Following the law was actually easy on the contrary to this constant struggle to figure out what was right and what was wrong.

"How are you?" Sky saw Thelonious and decided to come over and talk to him.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I'm just doing my best to be the leader those people deserve. I don't have time to think about myself right now. What happened…" his voice trailed off significantly.

"You are an amazing leader," Sky told him when looking into his dark eyes. "Never forget that. You were chosen for a reason."

Thelonious gave her something that resembled a small smile, but then his face grew serious again. "I'm not worried about myself at the moment. I'm actually worried about Marcus. He's taking it a lot harder."

"I talked to him. I hope he'll get better," Sky answered with a sigh. "It wasn't his fault."

"I had the last word, so…" Jaha started, clearly indicating his own.

"Hey," Sky interrupted him. "You're all forgetting that there wouldn't be enough dropships for every one of us anyway," she added in a much lower voice so no one would hear them.

Marcus just entered the room and spotted Sky standing very close to Jaha and telling him something, maybe even whispering it to his ear. He felt an unpleasant knot tying in his stomach at the sight. Was it possible that Sky changed her mind and decided that she actually had feelings for the Chancellor?

"She loves _you_, you know?" he suddenly heard his mother's voice and he nearly jumped.

"What?" Marcus asked, too surprised to utter a smarter word.

"The Chancellor may be in power, but he is not entitled to win that girl over, Marcus," his mother continued.

"Right now I need to fight for our survival, mother, that's all that matters," he said in a hard voice.

"Why don't you try fighting for you own for a moment?" she asked and before he managed to say something, she was gone.

Eventually he made his way toward the Chancellor and Sky. After all, he needed to stand by Jaha's side when the celebration started.

"You're not my advisor," Jaha was just telling Sky in a playful tone.

"No, but I care about you, Thelonious," Sky replied seriously, "and I hope you know that. I can be a very good friend."

"Marcus, there you are," the Chancellor turned to him. "I've been waiting for you. I guess we can start now."

The aim of the gathering wasn't so much about remembering as it was about Jaha's prepared speech. He decided to tell people the whole truth, including the fact that there was never going to be enough dropships on the Ark. Sky thought it was a very smart thing to do since that would assure the survivors that those 320 people hadn't died in vain.

Then the horror started.

Somebody planted a bomb and everything went to hell. Chaos ensued.

Marcus suddenly found himself thrown backwards and then he hit the ground hard. A second later somebody landed on top of him, truly knocking the breath out of him. He felt like he was suffocating. He could hear screams like they were coming from far, far away and he realized that the blast temporarily deafened him.

He was still alive. He was breathing. He felt pain in his body because of the rather harsh fall he suffered from. But he was alive. The next thought in his head was Sky.

"Sky!" he screamed in panic, doing his best to set himself free from underneath the body that was pinning him to the ground. He nearly screamed as he turned onto his back and saw a face with eyes opened widely and frozen. The man was dead. Marcus was extremely lucky. Now if only that luck could exceed a little bit further…

"SKY!" he roared as he managed to push the body aside, doing everything he could not to think about it. Not to think about all the people that just died. _For nothing_ this time. Who could do something like that? Who would risk the safety of the entire Colony?

Marcus didn't have an answer, but he had a reason to go on. He had to look.

"SKY! Sky, where are you?!" he roared, nearly in despair now. She couldn't be dead. She truly couldn't. He vaguely remembered that she was standing near him and the Chancellor.

"Jaha!" Marcus called his friend. Nothing.

Finally, his eyes spotted long black hair on the ground.

"Sky!" Marcus immediately got to the place and pushed another two dead bodies aside. He was so relieved when seeing Sky's eyes opening, her hand going up to touch the bump on her head and her chest raising and falling, indicating her erratic breathing.

"Are you all right?" Marcus asked, placing his hand gently on her shoulders and helping her up to a sitting position. Then his right hand, completely on its own, wandered to her cheek and cupped it gently. Sky managed to nod.

"Mom…" Marcus whispered, now desperate to find another important to him person. He stood up, looking around. He tried to remember where she'd stood before. He needed to get to her, too. He needed to save her as well. "Mom!" He finally spotted her lying on the floor, far too close to the place when the blast had initiated. "Oh, no!" He fell to his knees right next to her and gently propped up her head. She was slowly fading, he could tell. Still, he couldn't accept this. He might not be the perfect son, he might more often disagree with her than agree, but he still loved her. She was his mother. The only family he had left.

Abigail Griffin squatted next to them and assessed the older woman's injuries. The look in her eyes was enough for Marcus to make him understand that there was nothing the doctor could do. Griffin touched his arm, but then she let go, spotting Jaha.

"Marcus…" Sky was there, right by his side. Again, she was there when he needed her the most. "I'm so sorry," she whispered when putting her arms around him. His mother's eyes were long closed. She was gone. "So sorry…" Sky repeated as Marcus pulled her into a stronger hug.

"Thelonious, are you even listening to what I'm saying?!" Abby asked in a sharp voice, desperate to gain Jaha's attention. His eyes were fixed on the pair embracing on the ground. "Thelonious!"

"Yes, yes, I'm listening," Jaha finally took his eyes away from Marcus and Sky and looked at Abby.

"Who could've done something like this?" the woman just asked, her voice breaking. "Thelonious… this is… this is…"

"I know, I know," he said. "We'll find and then we'll punish this person."

* * *

><p>Everybody was on the hunt for the person who had bomb the Great Hall, almost sentencing the whole population to death. A few hours after the event a man came forward, but there was something that didn't exactly add up and even though technically the perpetrator was caught, Jaha and the rest were still discreetly looking for a possible accomplice.<p>

Marcus was tired. He was tired of trying to save everyone. He was tired of carrying that burden on his shoulders. Was it really his job? On the other hand, who would care if not him? He was strong enough to do this. He had to be. Only he just lost his mother. He grieved for her and he never felt so alone and lost in his entire life. There was only one person that he wanted to see at the moment, one person he wanted to talk to.

Few minutes later he found himself by the door leading to her room. He raised his hand and knocked.

She opened and looked at him in surprise. After all, he'd never before visited her.

"Hi," he said sheepishly, suddenly losing all the courage he'd worked up.

"Hi," she said and smiled sadly. "Marcus, I'm so sorry about…"

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted her. "That's not why I'm here."

"No?" She seemed surprised, but it made sense. She must have a lot of visitors. When someone lost somebody important on the Ark, Marcus was sure they all went to Sky. After all, she was the advisor.

"May I?" he asked, not really comfortable to have this conversation in the door. "We need to talk."

"Come in, " she said and let him in, then closed the door behind him.

Her room was small and simple. Nothing extravagant, only the necessary items. It was no surprise, really. One needed to live modestly if they wanted to survive on the Ark.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked when standing right next to him and looking up at his face expectantly.

"I…" he started, once again mesmerized by the clear blue in her eyes. He unconsciously made a step forward, being so close to her now that he could smell the flowery scent of her hair. He was truly at lost for words, so he decided it would be best if he showed her instead.

Sky didn't move an inch when he suddenly leaned toward her and then his lips were touching hers. He feared she would push him away, that he misread her, but she just stood there like she was stunned that he actually kissed her. Then he felt her lips moving under his own, lighting a fire in his heart, his veins; fire that spread so fast that he was affected by it whole and he completely forgot where they were and what was at stake. He pulled her into his arms, their bodies melting into one as their mouths opened and their tongues touched.

Sky moaned quietly, losing herself in the kiss, tasting Marcus, playing with his tongue. Her hand wandered up to his face and then cupped the back of his skull, gently fisting in his hair. He was truly scorching her. His hand roaming around her back, his lips caressing her own and then…

The whole Ark seemed to have shaken, forcing them to break apart.

"What was that?" Sky asked, instantaneously being brought back to the ground. They were on the Ark that was slowly crumbling. They were still in danger. Someone had planted a bomb earlier that day.

"I have no idea," Marcus said, holding onto her as he was afraid she might get hurt again. "Come on."

They exited her room and ran toward the source of the commotion. What they saw froze them completely. One of the newest Council members, Diana Sydney, was just taking control of one of the dropships.

"Diana, you can't do this!" Thelonious tried to talk to her. "You're jeopardizing every single life in here! You can't just leave! It'll crumble the Ark completely! We still have so much to repair before we'll be able…"

"Don't listen to this old fool!" Diana interrupted the Chancellor and turned to the people that seemed to be following her. They were with her on the other side, on their way to the dropship, separated from Jaha's group by a glass door. "You think that you'll make it to the ground if you listen to _him_?! He's the one with the greatest power in here and we need to take it away from him! Who do you think will actually be on the Jaha dropship? The people he cares about and no one else! The rest of you will die here! Even with the sacrifice there's still not enough ships! Did they tell you that?!"

"I'm going home!" One of Jaha's man just said and managed to squeeze into the little space the guards managed to make when trying to pry the door open.

Sky and Marcus made their way to Jaha and suddenly, Sydney grabbed her, yanking her inside and placing a gun to her head.

"One move and she dies," Diana threatened Jaha. "Chancellor, I know you have a soft spot for this girl and I know she would be the first to have a place on your dropship. Now, you either let me and my people go or she dies."

"Diana, let's talk…" Thelonious started, but Sydney didn't let go of Sky.

"Chancellor," Marcus said in a warning voice. "Maybe it's better we let her go."

"This will crumble the whole Ark. We might not survive this. We're still vulnerable after the bombing," the Chancellor argued.

"So you just Sky her die?!" Marcus raised his voice, beyond angry now. "You can't win this one! Sydney, just go!" He turned to the oppressor.

It all happened too fast. One of Sydney's guards shot the man who managed to finally open the door all the way and then it closed immediately.

"NOO!" Marcus roared, trying to get through, pounding his fists against the glass. "Noo!" His and Sky's terrified eyes locked for a brief second before he lost the sight of her. The whole Ark shook as Diana activated the Exodus protocol. She still had one more door to reach until she would find herself on the dropship.

"Marcus!" Jaha screamed and managed to drag Marcus away from the glass door. He did it just in time. The ship shook again and the glass shattered. There was a terrible loud rumble and everything went dark.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>You know, Marcus is and always will be my favorite, but the name Thelonious is just beautiful, don't you think?


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **Next chapters may take a little longer for me to write since I need to figure out what do next, but eventually, I will of course write them.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 5<strong>

The Ark was completely crippled. Marcus almost died. Eventually, he woke up next to the small air shaft in a completely abandoned and darkened hall. For a moment there he was afraid that he was the only one that survived, even though it seemed incomprehensible to him. He didn't think he even deserved to survive. The air shaft provided just enough of hot, unpleasant kind of stuffy air - but air nevertheless - so he could stand up and clear his head. Then he managed to walk to the end of the corridor and to another. Through trials and tribulations and with help of some of the men he encountered, they managed to get into the control room. Jaha, Sinclair and few other were there.

"We have barely enough air to survive tomorrow," The Chancellor informed, looking utterly defeated. "It's over. We're done. The hope lies in the remaining survivors of the 100."

"No, there has to be another way!" Marcus raised his voice in anger and hit the table with his fist. "We can't just give up like this!"

"Marcus, there's no other way out of this situation. Sydney killed us all," Jaha said in a strongly calm and detached voice. He seemed to have already accepted his fate, but it didn't mean Kane had to do that, too.

"What about Sky?" Marcus asked, doing his best to hide his emotions. The thought that she might've actually not survived shot a piercing kind of pain through his heart. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep living on if he wouldn't see her again.

"You saw what happened," Jaha said with a sigh as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"I saw her being taken a hostage and then… nothing. She might still be out there somewhere," Marcus said. "And I'm going to find her." He wasn't giving up.

"Actually, sir, I have reasons to believe that they might be other survivors across the Ark," Sinclair joined the conversation. "The computer caught body heat in one other room. They're running out of air as we speak."

"How can I get there?" Marcus just asked when turning to the technician.

"The way is completely cut out," Sinclair notified. "You can only get there when going into the air shafts, but they're overheated, Councilor. You might not make it. You might suffocate."

"I have to try," Marcus just said, brushing it all off. "Tell me the way," he demanded.

"It's a suicide mission, Marcus," Jaha said when placing his hand on Kane's arm. "You won't make it."

"I already lost my mother," Kane hissed when yanking his arm from his friend's grip. "I won't lose Sky, too."

"You've already lost her!" Thelonious called after him when Marcus snatched the plans from Sinclair's hand and directed himself to the door. He had to try. He _had _to. At least he was doing something, fighting for something. He wasn't going to just give up and wait for death like Jaha. If he really was going to die, he would go down fighting.

* * *

><p>Sinclair wasn't exaggerating when he said Marcus might suffocate in the heat. He was just crawling through the shaft, finding less and less room to fit into when trying to avoid all the hot pipes and the steam that was getting thicker and thicker. The eat was nearly scorching and he was tired. The lack of a sufficient air supply made him dizzy and he had to fight hard as not to lose consciousness, not to give up. Not yet. He'd already made it so far. It would be a waste if he stopped now. He was also thirsty. Never before in his life had he felt such a thirst. There were days when the Colony had had to go by without drinking water at all. Those were bad days, but nothing was as bad as what Marcus felt now. The heat caused him to lose water through his body pores and it only made it all worse. He was dehydrated for sure.<p>

Only he believed that Sky was waiting at the end of this path. She was scared. She was dying, too. He needed to get to her. And if she wasn't there… well, he'd save as many as he could until he would succumb to death himself.

Finally, he spotted a grid that marked the end of the shaft. It was so hot that he burnt his hand when he tried to touch it and nearly cried out from pain. Finally, he managed to push the grid open when banging against it through the cloth of his shirt. His hand was burning like it was on fire, but he forced himself not to think about it, not to surrender to the pain.

The door to the chamber Sinclair was talking about was locked, causing the lack of fresh air that would eventually kill the people inside… if it hadn't happened already. Marcus spotted a fuse box on the wall and after giving it a few tries, the door finally slid open. The air that now entered the chamber wasn't all that fresh, but Marcus could only imagine that it still felt amazing for the people cuddled inside.

He was right to get there as he found nearly twenty survivors. Jaha might've given up, but Kane wouldn't let even one person die now. He'd done enough damage so far. No one would ever again die because of him.

People started waking up from their stupor, desperately catching their breaths. Still, Marcus didn't pay any attention to them, too busy looking for long black hair. He was acting like in a frenzy, the previous lack of air causing his dizziness and now he was frantically looking for Sky. If she wasn't there… no, he couldn't think like that. This one time he needed to listen to his mother. She always told him to have faith, to believe. He needed to do this now. Sky _had _to be there.

He was ready to collapse to the floor. His whole body was shaking, his shirt unpleasantly stuck to his body, sweat ran down the sides of his face, his hand was burning…

Then, finally, when his knees nearly buckled under him, he saw her.

She was lying on the ground in the furthest part of the room.

"Sky," he whispered. At first he wanted to scream her name, but he discovered that his throat was too dry for any loud sound to come out of it. Instead he summoned all the strength he had left and ran toward her, his knees hitting the ground with a loud thud. He would have bruises later, but he didn't care. All he cared about was her. She needed to be alive. He couldn't have come too late!

His hands reach out and gently cupped her head, turning her toward him.

"Sky?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

For a moment nothing happened and all he could hear was the desperate pounding of his own heart. Then, finally, after what seemed like a whole eternity, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Oh, thank god!" Marcus exhaled a breath a relief as he saw that she was alive. He never was a religious person, but today he seemed to do everything he'd never done before. She'd truly changed his entire person without even trying to.

"I know you'd come for me," Sky said in a barely audible voice. "I knew it'd be you."

"I'll get you out of here," he promised when sitting on the ground and pulling her onto his laps. He felt like he had a fever and the last thing his body wanted was more heat, but he still pulled Sky into his arms and let her rest on his shoulder. He'd almost lost her after all.

* * *

><p>The door to the command centre opened and almost twenty people walked inside, followed by Marcus who was carrying Sky in his arms. He truly didn't know where all this strength had come from. Right before he found her, he'd been ready to collapse from exhaustion and dehydration right then and there, but surprisingly, he managed to carry her all the way back to the command.<p>

Jaha's eyes opened widely in shock as registered what was happening, what Marcus had managed to do. At first it was awe, but then he felt ashamed. It didn't get any better when he actually get to Marcus, wanting to help him, but Sky was clinging to his friend's body so hard that no one could take her away from Kane. Finally, Marcus placed her on one of the chairs and then squatted right by her side, making sure she was all right.

"Bring some water," Jaha gave a command and soon everybody got some. Thelonious knew they should save it, but what was the point now, really? They were going to die anyway. At least they didn't have to die from thirst.

The liquid was warm as everything seemed to be now on the ship, but it still tasted like the best thing Marcus had ever drunk. Finally, after a few cups of water, his mind cleared enough to be able to focus on something else than the survival of the woman he clearly loved.

"All right?" he asked her when he looked at her.

She sent him a faint smile and touched his arm.

"Thank you, Marcus."

He smiled to her in return and then raised to his feet.

"Are you hurt?" Griffin asked when making her way to him and taking a look at his hand that he held awkwardly in his other one.

"I burnt it," he said and hissed when she applied some ointment and then bandaged it. "Thanks."

"I wish I could give you something for the pain, but…" her voice trailed off.

"It's quite all right…. Now, what?" he asked, facing the Chancellor. "Have you found a way out during my absence?"

"Actually," Sinclair started, "I might have one. We're out of dropships, but technically, the Ark _is _a ship. We could bring it to the ground. Of course we can as well all burn as we try to get to Earth, but if we don't try, we'll die here for sure."

"I say we have to try."

* * *

><p>They all divided into four groups, going to different parts of the ship. If Sinclair's simulations were correct, those parts were the ones most likely to survive the landing. If someone still believed simulations, Marcus thought, but chose not to think about it too much. They didn't have any other choice anyway.<p>

Sky refused to leave Kane's side so she was situated right by him now, her hand holding his own, the one that was all right. Thelonious didn't say anything when he saw them together and acting so intimately, but they noticed the hurt look on his face. He wasn't with them now as they needed to part. If some of them managed to get down to Earth, they needed a member of the Council to be in charge. People had to deal with loss and then they had to adjust to a completely new way of living on Earth. Forcing them to choose a new leader was too much.

Sinclair initiated the launch, but surprisingly, nothing happened.

"What's wrong?" Sky asked in a shaky voice.

And they found out that someone needed to stay behind. If they waited and reset the system, they would miss their window and landed somewhere far, far away from the 100. That was when Marcus tried to raise up and Sky stopped him when pressing her hand into his shoulder and asking, "What are you doing?" in a very scared tone.

He looked at her and she saw the horrible truth in his eyes.

"No." She shook her head frantically, grabbing his other hand, not even watching his burn. The bandage felt rough against her skin. "No! You can't!" she denied in panic, tears welling up in her eyes. "Not now. Not after _everything_."

"Someone needs to stay behind," Marcus said with a sad smile on his face. Still, he was happy that she survived. He saved her and that was enough for him. She deserved her chance on Earth whereas he deserved to die for all that he'd done. It was only fitting.

"No! You can't!" she denied again, desperately trying to stop him and in the same time knowing that she wasn't able to. He was stronger. If he wanted to go, he would. She already saw in his eyes that he made his decision and would stand by it.

"Salvation comes with a prize," he added when gently squeezing her hand and then he finally stood up. She still reached out to him, desperate for his touch. She needed to feel his skin against her own as she held his hand. She couldn't believe that they'd only shared one kiss that was quickly interrupted. She needed more time. She needed _him_. Without him… She gasped, feeling the pain shooting out from her heart and spreading in every direction. It wasn't the kind of pain she normally felt. It wasn't physical. It wasn't even the kind when she'd felt when somebody had broken up with her in the past nor the kind of heartache she'd felt when the boy she'd liked hadn't liked her back. This was the _real heartache._ The kind that had the power to change her forever, to truly kill her. Even if she survived, she would be dead inside. She would forever dream of the taste of Marcus's lips or his touch and the pain would always be there, sharp like a knife stuck in her heart. She knew it. It might dull with time, but she would never forget. She felt like she truly would never love like this again.

Then he let go of her hand and walked toward the door. She needed to stifle the cry of pain that wanted to escape her lips. She hugged her knees, closing her eyes shut, forcing the tears out. Still, they were flowing.

And in that very moment the whole Ark shook once again, but this time it was final. The part of the ship they were on detached from the huge construction.

"What…?" Sky raised her head up and met Marcus's surprised gaze across the room.

"Where is Thelonious?!" she asked Sinclair when a realization dawned on her. She didn't have proof, but somehow she _knew _it was Thelonious that decided to stay behind. The man that clearly had feelings for her, too, only she could never return them.

"He… he stayed behind," Sinclair replied when looking at his tablet.

Marcus was suddenly back by her side, equally shaken. His hand blindly found hers, but she needed more than just a handshake now. She turned to him and he put his arm around her, pulling her into his chest to which she clung. This time she cried for Thelonious. She could never love him, but she still cared about him. She was his friend. And now she lost him.

Suddenly, Marcus shifted and cupped Sky's face, looking at her intensely. "In case we don't make it…" he started, devouring her eyes with his own, "Sky, I don't want to die without telling you that I love you," he confessed. "I love you," he repeated.

"I love you, too, Marcus," she whispered with a bittersweet smile on her face and pressed her lips against his, kissing him.

The part of a ship they were on were falling down into the atmosphere, down to Earth. They might all burn soon, dying. Maybe if they did, Sky and Marcus wouldn't even feel it when consumed by their own flames of love.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>See you again in a few days… I guess. Not sure when I'll post another chapter, but I _am _sure that I will. I'm too passionate about this story not to : P


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6**

As violently as it started, it stopped. They were no longer falling. The ship just touched the ground, or more like crashed. People screamed at first, scared that they were just about to die, but then they stopped and were all left in the deafening silence. The force of the landing broke the kiss Marcus and Sky shared and now they looked at other with both fear and excitement in their eyes. They weren't dead. Quite the contrary, they were on Earth.

When it all sunk in, the people around them started cheering. They'd made it. After nearly three generations of living in space, they were back on Earth, back to where they belonged. Still, none of them moved like they were truly scared of what awaited outside. They knew it wasn't the end of their troubles. The 100 informed the Ark of the grounders living on Earth and their hostility after all. The survivors all looked at Marcus, who was apparently promoted to their new leader, the Chancellor as he was Jaha's second in command.

"Come on," he said to Sky and raised to his feet, reaching his hand to her. This time it wasn't a goodbye, Sky realized, this time it was a new beginning. She had her whole life ahead of her. Life by Marcus's side. And Marcus was the man she'd given her heart to.

Still, her hand shook slightly when she gave it to him. He helped her to her feet and when still holding her, he led the way to the hatch. They climbed the ladder and finally, they walked out of their prison.

The first thing they saw was the blue sky above them, one of the most beautiful things they'd seen during their whole lives. Then they felt a waft of fresh air and felt completely intoxicated by it. It was fresh and clean and it actually had a scent. The scent of living plants that were growing all around and the lake they landed in. The water also seemed so fresh and transparent. They no longer had to worry about rations. They no longer had to endure days without getting any. They were home and the nature offered them everything they needed in order to survive.

"It's… beautiful," Sky gasped when taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She discovered that she loved to feel the warm rays of sun on her face. Loved to listen to the sounds of nature, to the birds singing, the water splashing, indicating the waterfall nearby.

"It is," Marcus agreed when he looked at her and was truly struck with her own beauty. She met his eyes and they were both perfectly happy in that very moment.

Soon enough, the rest of the people started to emerge from the ship, just as equally mesmerized by what they were seeing and experiencing for the very first time.

Sinclair made his way to Kane and handed him over an earpiece. "It's the Chancellor," he said.

Marcus took the device, but he couldn't bring himself to put it to his ear and speak to the microphone. What would he say to Jaha? What could he say? Simple thank you didn't seem enough. He owed him his _life_ and his _future_ by the side of the woman he loved. The very same woman he knew Jaha had feelings for, too.

So Marcus gave the earpiece to Sky.

She took it, being a little tentatively at first, but then she was thankful for Marcus's offering. If anyone wanted to talk to Jaha, it was her. They might not be in love, but they were still friends.

"Thelonious?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Are you all ok?" Jaha asked.

"Yes, yes… we landed just fine, but we have no news from the others."

"The second team didn't make it," The Chancellor informed, "but the third one is out there. You just need to find them."

"We will," Sky promised.

"And you need to find the rest of the 100. You need to take care of them."

Sky nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her. She had tears in her eyes and once she spoke again, her voice wobbled. "I do love you, Thelonious, I hope you know that," she said and then heard him sighing.

"Not the way I would want you to," he finally answered.

"You're my friend," she agreed.

"I know and that is why I stayed behind, so you could be with your lover. You need each other, Sky. You need to go on living now. Live for all of us that didn't make it."

"I will," she promised and then he cut off abruptly.

"Jaha, out." There was only static in her earpiece now.

"Thelonious? Thelonious!" Only he wasn't there anymore. "How much time does he have left?" She turned to Sinclair.

"It's hard to say. Maybe a few days, maybe a week. I don't know how much damage our launch did to the Ark."

Marcus was there for her and he put his arms around her. "It'll be all right," he whispered into her ear when kissing her hair.

"I just feel so sorry for him. I know I would never be able to give him what he wanted from me, but… I would still like to have him in my life."

"I know, I know. Me, too," Marcus said and then gently turned her and pointed his hand at something. It was smoke, far in the forest. "You think it may be the third dropship?"

"Either that or the 100's making a fire," she told him. "Let's go."

Their hands once more entwined together and they finally jumped from their ship into the shallow waters of the shore.

* * *

><p>Even though Sky was mourning the loss of Jaha, she couldn't help but be exhilarated about all the wonders she saw around her as they made their way through the forest and into a small clearing. They found the third dropship and were enthusiastically welcomed by the next group of survivors. The part of the Ark that came down there was big enough, so they could use it to build shelter. The guards immediately started working on raising a fence, some workers went to the lake to fetch what they could from the wreck and some went to hunt for food.<p>

"Be careful and don't go too far away," Marcus warned them. "They're others out there and they might not be happy to see more of us to come down."

They nodded and eventually ventured off into the woods.

When the sun started setting on the horizon everybody stopped working, they could only stand and stare at another beautiful thing they saw, maybe even the most wonderful so far.

"I have an idea," Sky whispered into Marcus's ear and pulled him toward the woods when holding his hand in one of hers and a blanket in the other.

"I'm not sure it's safe out there, Sky," he warned her with care in his voice.

"We're not going far, just trust me. Take your gun if it makes you feel better."

In the end, he yielded, curious of what she was planning.

They didn't go that far, he realized as they exited the woods right next to the waterfall they'd spotted before. It was Marcus's decision to set camp near the clear water supply as fetching it from further away would be a waste of their valuable time and strength.

"Look, it's so amazing," she said when staring at the water in the setting sun. "Come!" She pulled on his hand again.

"What are you doing?" Marcus asked. "All right, now seriously, _what_ _are you doing_?" he said nearly choking on his words as she stopped next to the shore and kicked off her shoes, then reached to her shirt and took it off, revealing a black bra she was wearing underneath.

"I'm going in," she said when smiling to him mischievously. "And you're going with me."

"Oh, am I now?" he asked, quite liking the performance. She just took off her pants and he had a wonderful view on her body only in her underwear. He would very much like her to take those off, too, but his own pants already felt too tight and he wasn't sure she was ready to take the next step with him.

"Did you ever read some books just for pleasure?" she asked him when turning to him. "Or you were only into the science ones?"

"I read every single book that made it to the Ark," he answered her. "What's your point?" He stood there, feeling uncomfortable and worrying if she noticed the awkward stiffness in his body.

"Have you ever wondered how it would be to skinny dip?" she asked another question and he felt himself blushing.

"The… what?" he asked, baffled.

That was when she turned her back on him and dropped the remaining parts of her clothing before making a dash into the water. All he saw was her naked backside, but it was enough to send him over the edge. She was ready to take their relationship to the next level, he realized with relief. If she wasn't, she wouldn't have stripped in front of him, would she?

"Oh my god!" he heard her calling from the pool of water under the waterfall. "Marcus, get in here! It's so amazing! This is the best thing I've ever felt in my entire life!"

Marcus decided that he needed to give her even better experience, otherwise his pride would suffer. Now he seemed to be actually jealous of the cold water enveloping Sky's naked body.

So he took off his clothes and jumped after her.

And damn, she was right! There was truly nothing better on Earth right now than skinny dipping under a waterfall! You could have sex in space, too, right?

He got to her, trying to actually swim, but it felt kind of awkward. His feet were touching the ground, but he would really want to learn how to swim. It would be both useful and a pleasurable skill. Maybe they could learn it together.

For now he got to her and she splashed some water on him, squealing with delight like a child.

"That's how you want to play it?" Marcus retaliated with the same and eventually caught her, imprisoning her with his arms between the stone wall and his chest. He didn't touch her yet, but the close proximity of her naked body to his own was torturous enough. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and plunge himself inside her. He craved for her more than for anything in his life, even when it included coming down to Earth.

The sun was already set and now he was watching Sky in the pale moonlight.

"What are you thinking?" she asked in a thick voice that indicated that she was as much turned on as he was.

"That you're truly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he answered honestly and reached his hand to her face, cupping it, then pulling her gently toward him until their lips touched in a heated kiss. They lost control pretty quickly and before they realized what was happening, Sky put her arms around his neck, wanting him closer. Her legs went up and now were locked around his middle. He held her easily thanks to the water and he couldn't stop himself from taking her now. Her breasts were pressed against his naked chest and he could feel her hard nipples and then there was the heat coming from her core that was pressed against his abdomen and… She grazed herself against his hard length, causing them both to groan deeply and break the kiss. Marcus's lips and hands descended lower, exploring her delicious body.

"Marcus, now," she whispered into his ear and then reached for his hardness and took it in her hand. "Please, now."

He couldn't deny her. He couldn't deny himself. He finally let himself go and was lost completely when he found himself inside her.

* * *

><p>"I don't want to go back," Sky said when she was afterwards lying on the shore, naked in Marcus's arms. The blanket she'd taken earlier warming them, their clothes wet as they decided to wash them after their bath.<p>

"Eventually, we have to. They'll be looking for me and in the morning and we need to get some sleep," he said, but didn't move. He loved the feel of her warm body next to his. He could hold and love her like this forever.

She stopped looking into the sky and locked her eyes with his.

"Did I tell you why I was named Sky?" she asked.

He shook his head and brushed her cheek with his finger. "Tell me."

"My mother was a romantic and a dreamer," Sky began her story when lying down on her side, her face right next to Marcus's. "She was always dreaming about going down to Earth and seeing the sky. She imagined it would be the most beautiful thing she could ever see. Then she gave birth to me and…" Sky stopped for a moment. "She told me that once she saw me, once she looked into my eyes, she decided that _that _was the most beautiful thing she would ever see and she named me Sky."

"That is truly a wonderful story," Marcus admitted, once again mesmerized by her eyes. "I can understand her completely."

Sky smiled. "I was lucky to keep those eyes, you know," she joked. "I bet you heard that all babies have fair eyes when they are born, but then the color can change."

"She must've felt that yours wouldn't," Marcus said.

"Anyway," Sky went on, "she told me to on and be a dreamer. She told me I should not settle for anything less than the kind of love that I want. According to her it was all right to dream about the love and passion that would consume me. She said that if I was patient enough and if I had faith, I would find it."

Marcus couldn't say anything to that. The truth was that his heart started beating so wildly in his chest that he afraid she would feel it as she was pressed against it. He couldn't possibly ask her if she actually got that love, because he didn't know what he would do if she said that she hadn't.

"You know what?" she asked him when meeting his eyes. "She was right." They looked at each other for a long moment before Marcus finally brought his hand to her cheek and pushed a stay curl of her hair behind her ear.

"Really?" he finally dared ask and his voice was embarrassedly thick, too full of emotions that he'd been hiding locked inside for the most part of his life.

"Really." She nodded, loving the expression on his face. "I never said yes to Thelonious, because all I wanted was you. I wanted _you,_ because I _felt it_ toward you and I still do. I love you with all I have, Marcus Kane."

"I'm not sure I deserve it, but I love you, too, Sky Forbes. I promise I always will… Your mother was right," he added after a few silent seconds in which they just enjoyed being together. "the most beautiful think I've ever seen is you. I can drown in your eyes."

They started kissing again and quickly got aroused.

"One more time and then we can go back to the camp," she said when reaching for him and guiding him inside her.

"Deal."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Yeah, a romantic chapter for you! I needed to write this piece before the shit hits the fan again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

Shot kids, crucified people, most of the 100 imprisoned, a grounder caught… Sky was still trying to process it all, including the wrenching operation on a girl named Raven, and now Marcus was telling her he needed to go out there to negotiate for peace. He could die.

"Marcus, no!" Sky cried out. "You saw what happened to our people! And they were only out of the camp hunting for food!"

"This won't be a bunch of kids looking for a fight," Marcus said in a calm voice, trying to put Sky's mind at rest. "This will be a diplomatic mission. I want to negotiate for peace."

"And what if they refuse? What if they kill you? I will not lose you now! Marcus, I just won't!"

"Who will go if not me?" he asked the actually perfect question. "I'm the Chancellor, I'm the leader. I'm the only one that can actually make this work."

"What if I never see you again?" she asked, looking at him with those sad eyes, trying to keep the tears inside.

"You won't," his voice softened significantly as he closed the distance between them and took her in his arms. "You will not lose me. You're right, we've come too far to die now."

"This is the real world and we have no control over it," she said, burrowing her face into his neck and breathing him in while she still could.

"Do you think this decision has come lightly to me?" he asked when pulling away and holding her on his arms' length. "Every parent in this camp wants their kids back. They're desperate and soon enough they'll venture out on their own. We cannot let that happen. We need to bring those kids back. They're our future. I also owe it to Griffin to get her daughter. Can you understand this, Sky?"

She nodded, unable to speak. She did understand it all too well, actually. She couldn't be selfish now.

"I'll go with you," she offered. It was better than to stay and wait. At least this way, even if they both died, they would be together till the end.

"No," Marcus denied sharply, "No," he repeated after a moment. "And it's not because I think you can't handle it, Sky. It's because you're with me. I'm in this till the day I die," he confessed when putting his hand to her face.

"Me, too," she agreed.

"And this is why you need to be the Chancellor while I'm gone."

"Wait… what? I can't… I don't know what to do… I…" she started, but he interrupted her.

"People trust you, because many of them came to you once they found out their children were on Earth. You're the perfect choice. They'll listen to you, because they know you're compassionate and caring and that you're with me."

"All right," she said, deciding to be brave. There was really no other choice anyway and they knew it. "But you have to come back to me."

"I'll do my best. That's all I can say."

She swallowed her tears again and looked aside for a moment so he wouldn't see the pain in her expression. "I love you," she finally whispered when meeting his eyes again.

"I love you, too."

She could tell he was emotional as well and fought it well.

Then she jumped to him and put her arms around his neck. "Never forget that," she whispered into his ear and finally kissed him hard on the lips.

When he left the room she felt like he'd taken her heart with him. Her chest was empty and aching and she wouldn't be all right unless he came back.

She walked out into the open, too, watching him going toward the fence. He turned back to look at her just then and his mouth moved as he was saying something to her. She actually understood, reading his lips. He was saying: May we meet again.

How it came that somehow she ended up being with the Chancellor anyway? It meant responsibilities and here, on Earth, it meant more danger. She never was one to fight for a title or to marry for one as was proven when she'd rejected Thelonious, but somehow it happened to her anyway. And it didn't feel good at all. If so, it was terrifying.

* * *

><p>It'd been three days. Three long arduous days. In fact, Sky thought it'd been weeks. She couldn't do anything productive. She just kept on worrying. Being the chancellor provided her the necessary distractions, but she still had too much time on her hands. She even started wondering if she would ever see Marcus again. The grounders hadn't attacked anyone since the day Kane had gone to meet them, but it didn't mean anything. They could as well be busy torturing him for information. At the very thought of it, Sky paled. Then she needed to pull herself back together again. She needed to be strong for Marcus and for herself and for all the people that she was in charge of now. They depended on her and she needed to live up to their expectations.<p>

When it came to the kids that Marcus had brought to the camp earlier, they were nothing but trouble. They'd already escaped once in search of Clarke Griffin. The next day Clarke actually made her way to Jaha camp by herself. Sky truly had no idea how to keep those kids in place and what to do so they would stop sneaking out. She knew they were more familiar with the woods than she or anyone that came down with the Ark, but it still wasn't safe. They were hotheaded teenagers and Sky couldn't trust them completely and just listen to them. They'd done enough damage as it was.

Now Sky was faced with another dilemma and she once again wished Marcus had been there with her to tell her what to do. She wish she could've told him right now about the Mount Weather, that it wasn't the grounders that had the kids. For now, she had to do on her own.

"They can listen on us," Raven was explaining, "and they're blocking our signal. We need to get to the radio tower."

"Can we get there safe?" Sky asked, torn between going and staying.

"It's not that far away," Clarke assured her. "We know the woods and we can protect you. We need to go now."

* * *

><p>Marcus was really close to passing out. It'd been almost three days since he'd been thrown into the pit by the grounders and then miraculously reunited with Thelonious. He still couldn't wrap his mind about the fact that his friend had made it to Earth. Now they had additional company in the person of a girl named Lexa who was apparently there to oversee that one of them would kill the other. Otherwise, the grounders would launch an attack on everyone who came from the sky. Both Marcus and Thelonious tried to explain to her that they had nothing to do with the massacre the grounders suffered, but eventually, they just gave up.<p>

"I'm sorry," Marcus said toward Thelonious after a longer moment of silence.

"For what?" Jaha looked at him in surprise.

Marcus met his eyes and actually smiled apologetically. "For falling in love with Sky," he finally explained.

"We both know it's not something the both of you could control, so you have nothing to apologize for," Jaha said to his friend's astonishment.

"I tried to push those feelings away, you know," Marcus followed, "they were just too strong."

"At least one of us is happy then, and that, Marcus, is another reason to why you should go back to the camp. She's waiting for you."

"But we can't keep this up," Kane said when shaking his head. "We can't just keep killing each other and expect that it'll make it all better. It won't. We have to end this war, Thelonious." After having said that, he raised to his feet, already feeling lightheaded. Days without food or fresh water would do just that to a person, not to mention that Kana hadn't recovered completely from what had happened in the last hours before they'd all made it to the ground. It didn't matter now anyway. It pained him, but he knew what he had to do. He would never be able to kill his friend, not after everything he'd done in the space. He couldn't let the grounders kill everyone in his camp either. There was only one way out of this mess and Marcus was truly sorry about this, but he couldn't do anything else. He only hoped Sky could forgive him…

* * *

><p>"We can't blow this up if we want to spy on Mount Weather," Clarke voiced her opinion. "It's up to you, Chancellor," she turned to Sky. She'd never really liked or trusted the authority back on the Ark and after she'd found out what her own mother done to her father, Clarke had lost hope in the Councilor Griffin as well. She couldn't do anything about this now as her mother died, but she hoped one day she could find it in her heart to forgive her. Sky, on the other hand, seemed a very nice and trustworthy person and she actually listened to everyone, even the kids. Clarke had troubles wrapping her mind about the fact that she was in a relationship with Marcus Kane, but maybe someday, she would be able to ask Sky about it. After all, she only new one side of that man, the side which was ruthless and merciless back on the ship. Maybe there was more to him after all. Maybe the hardships they'd all endured in space just before coming down to Earth truly changed some of them.<p>

"All right," Sky made her decision. "We need to rescue the rest of our people from Mount Weather, so the radio tower stays," she said. "Raven, can you hack in undetected?"

"Of course I can!" Raven said like she was actually offended Sky doubted her abilities.

Suddenly, there was a movement in the trees.

"Hands up!" one of the guards shouted in that direction and aimed a gun.

"Don't shoot unless it's somebody hostile!" Sky scolded him when raising her hand and then gasped.

Thelonious Jaha stumbled out of the woods. He was bloody and battered and could barely stand on his two feet.

"Thelonious?!" Sky exclaimed with her eyes widely opened. "Oh my god! How are you here?!" She got to him just when his knees hit the ground. "Water! Quickly!" she commanded and soon, Thelonious gulped the whole bottle. "How did you get here?" she asked, still not able to believe her own eyes. She felt her heart swell at the sight of her friend. She missed him very much, but did her best not to think of him. Otherwise, it would kill her to imagine he would die all alone in space and there would be no one to say the final goodbye to him.

"They're coming," he said to her astonishment.

"What?"

"I have a message from the commander… leave… or die."

Sky opened her eyes widely and shook her head. No, it couldn't be, she thought. If that was the message then what happened to…

"Thelonious…" she started very slowly and in a very quiet voice. She wasn't really sure she wanted to know. "What… Is…" Somehow the name of her lover couldn't get through her throat. He couldn't be dead. He…

"He was all right the last I saw him," Jaha said to her great relief, "but…" he went on, closing his eyes for a moment from exhaustion, "they told us that one of us had to die in order to pay the debt for the massacre…"

"Oh my god. Finn," Clarke gasped when raising her hand to her mouth.

"We refused to," Jaha went on, "and then Marcus… he tried to kill himself to end the war…"

Once Sky heard that she suddenly lost her grip on Jaha and stood up, turning her back on him. Her whole body trembled as she raised her own hand to her mouth, as she tried so hard to stop the tears. She'd been crying way too much since she'd got to the ground. And Marcus had made her cry one time too many already.

"He was trying so hard to do the right thing," Thelonious said and then he was there, beside Sky and putting his arms around her even though she knew he could barely stand or stay awake. "He tried to do it for all of us. So we could live."'

"I know," Sky admitted when nodding repeatedly. "I know, but it doesn't hurt any less. I just… Why did he make me love him if he's so eager to die for us all?" She buried her head in Jaha's chest, spasms shaking her body. In that very moment she promised herself that it was the last time she was crying because of Marcus. She would do it no longer. She loved and desired that man more than life itself, but it recently got so hard. She just wanted to be happy with him, to be free, to be able to enjoy being with him every single day and not having to worry about him dying. Was it really that much to ask? Especially after all those lonely years on the Ark? During that time she'd nearly given up on finding the right man, on finding the kind of love she'd been dreaming about her whole life.

"Why doesn't it get any easier?" she finally asked Thelonious. "Why once you find the love you want, you still have to fight and suffer?"

"Life is suffering," Jaha just answered. "And there's nothing we can do about it. We can only try our best to make it work."

"Oh god, I'm sorry, you need to rest. When was the last time you ate something?" Sky suddenly realized what she was doing. She shouldn't be breaking down when Jaha had just endured days of physical trauma. He looked beaten, dehydrated and malnourished. She needed to take care of him, not whine about her own problems. "Let's go to the camp," she suggested when putting an arm around him to support him. "Can you walk?"

He just nodded.


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8**

The next day was just as equally rough for Sky. Thelonious wanted to run, to just get the hell out of their camp and toward what he claimed was a City of Light. He said they could make it. Only Sky was skeptical and she actually got into a fight with him. She didn't want to, but it happened. It hurt her that she had to argue with her friend, the man she'd thought just the day before that she would never even see again. Now he was there and it didn't get any easier. She discovered that he didn't really have any hard feelings toward her or Marcus, but he was ready to go to a place he just heard of and leave Kane behind. Marcus had hurt Sky a lot with his actions recently, but she wouldn't just abandon him. She needed him. She still had no idea how their relationship would look like when… - if, she thought with pain piercing her heart - he ever came back alive. The highlight of this day was that Clarke Griffin managed to find a way to heal the Reapers and therefore, they were able to negotiate for peace.

Now Sky was just sitting outside the ship, thinking hard on what to do. They could still run, though they wouldn't get far now. She still wanted to see Marcus again. She still needed to give Finn to the Grounders. How could she ever do it? She just now began to understand the magnitude of it all. She just now came around to finally grasping what every member of the Council had had to go through in the space. The decision to float someone was never taken lightly, but the bigger picture was more important. Their species had to survive. Still, when it came to love, that logic was disturbed, Sky realized. She would be ready to give up every single one of her people in order to get Marcus back alive and healthy. She knew he felt that, too, she could see it in his eyes when he was about to make yet another grand decision. But he would never actually do what his heart told him to do, Sky thought bitterly, getting mad at him all over again. After all, he'd been willing to kill himself in order to save them all.

Suddenly, there was a commotion near the gate and Sky nearly jumped when she heard the familiar and so dear to her voice. Well, she just wished it, didn't she? Only she didn't know how to act right now when Marcus was actually coming back to the camp.

She didn't have the control over her legs at the moment. She was angry, but she still wanted to see him so badly. She ran toward the gate and stood there, watching him coming toward with his hands held up high.

"Don't shoot!" he repeated, "they let me go as a sign that they trust you to do the right thing!"

Sky knew he needed to pass on the message, but still, it seemed wrong and cruel to do so. The grounders expected Finn in return. They would kill him, torture him to death for the massacre that was his doing. Sky knew he needed to be punished, she knew the boy needed help, but she wasn't sure this was the way. She'd rather lock him up and send him to therapy. There really was no need to kill on Earth. There was room for them to live.

Marcus came close enough to Sky in order for her to notice the awful shape he was in. His eyes seemed to be swollen and there were huge dark circles under them. Dehydration, malnutrition and not enough sleep, the same what had happened to Thelonious, she thought and her heart clenched painfully at the sight. Then Marcus was right in front of her, his lips smiling to her. He was so happy to see her.

"Sky…" he said, clearly wanting to go on, but she stopped him right then and there.

"Show me," she said in a sharp, knife-like voice. That tone seemed to hurt him a little as his face twitched and the smile disappeared. Then he sighed.

"Not here," he simply refused.

She told herself to be like stone. She wouldn't cry because of him again. She promised that to herself after all. She would not cry. _Be a stone. The waterfall is crashing on it, but it still stands._

"Fine," she said in the same impersonal matter, "show me in medical." After that, she just turned her back on him and walked straight to the medical unit they had in the wreck of the ship.

She could feel Marcus following her, his eyes set on her back. She could nearly feel his weariness and sadness. He was tired and hurt by her behavior, but he'd hurt her first. If it wasn't for that girl, Lexa, the commander of the grounders, Marcus wouldn't be here right now. Thelonious told Sky the whole story. And now they needed to give Finn away in order to keep the rest alive. Why life had to be so complicated? Sky almost sighed when she entered the medical. When she and Marcus had made it to the ground she'd been so relieved. She'd thought that from there on, there would be nothing serious to worry about. How wrong she'd been…

"Jackson," Sky turned to dr. Griffin's apprentice, "take a look at his hand."

Marcus was there just as she expected, standing in the doorway.

"Chancellor Kane, so good to see you," Jackson smiled at him, but then that smile quickly faded away as he noticed the tension in the room. "All right then, show me the wound."

Sky gestured Marcus toward the gurney.

"Come on, show me," she demanded. "Show me exactly how you tried to take your own life."

Her voice was so bitter that Marcus winced, but then he sat on the gurney and took off his jacket, revealing a cloth soaked with blood on his left wrist.

Sky stood there silently, watching Jackson unwinding the cloth and then looking at the wound. The blood was barely coagulated, the skin around red and dirty. She was doing everything to withhold any emotions, everything to hide them, because it was painful to watch Jackson clean the wound and then sewing it up. Marcus's jaw clenched, probably from pain. Then he looked up at Sky.

"Sky, you need to know that I didn't want this," he spoke to her in a horse voice. "I wanted to come back to you, but there really was no other choice."

"Oh, clearly there was, because you're here right now, aren't you?" she retorted when folding her arms across her chest.

"Yes, but I think the commander let us go just because she saw that we weren't acting like animals. I was willing to kill myself, so I wouldn't have to kill anyone else."

"You were willing to do that so you wouldn't feel bad," Sky said sharply.

"Would you be able to kill Thelonious? What would you do if they told you that only one of us can live? Would you kill him to safe me?" he asked the perfect question and Sky hated that he was right. She wouldn't. She would rather kill himself.

She bit her lower lip, because she promised she wouldn't cry.

"I make no excuses for my actions," Marcus went on and hissed as Jackson finished his work. "Thank you," he turned to him.

"You're welcome. Come see me if there's any infection, but it should be fine." Then he quickly left the room, probably wanting to be anywhere but there with the two of them.

"We need to look at the greater good here," Marcus continued and then he stood up, facing her."

That made Sky angry again and she decided that she couldn't do this right now. She had bigger problems on her head. Sending a kid to die wasn't an easy decision, but she rather deal with that now than with her own heart. That was why she left the room, leaving Marcus all alone.

* * *

><p>They tried to save Finn, but eventually he went to the Grounders on his own. Now Sky and the rest of the survivors were witnesses to Clarke Griffin actually killing the boy. They knew she was being merciful. The grounders would torture him for days before they would let him die and Clarke just stabbed him, letting him go right away. She risked everything, she risked her own sanity when doing it, Sky knew it. It wasn't easy to take someone's life. It always took a toll on a person. She wasn't sure she could deal with what happened. She actually lost her balance for a moment. Watching a kid murder another kid was enough of a disturbing sight.<p>

Then Marcus was right behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders, steadying her.

One more thing to deal with. One more thing she wasn't ready for. She didn't even know why she was doing it. Maybe she was afraid that if they were together now, she would soon suffer once more. This time he would not escape death. This time he would leave her all alone in grief and pain. That was why she pushed him away and started off into the darkness. If it was ever going to be safe, it was now, when the Grounders were pleased.

It was long after midnight when Sky finally made her way back to the ship. She knew what she was doing was all futile. Even if she left Marcus, refused to speak to him again in order to protect her heart, it was already too late. He was already too deep in her. She couldn't free herself even if she tried, if so, she would be miserable. It'd been so much easier to think of this kind of a passionate love when she'd been younger. Things had seemed to be plain and simple back there. Nothing in real life really was. Sky thought that it wasn't only about unconditional love, it was also about accepting the person's choices even if she didn't like them. She had no right to tell Marcus how to live and what do to just like he couldn't do that to her. She so wished things were easier. Only nothing that was great came easily.

"What about me?" Sky just asked when she entered her and Marcus's room. He was there, laying on his back with his eyes widely open. She knew he should be sleeping. He was exhausted after so many days spent in captivity. Yet, he was lying awake, waiting for her, worrying about her.

"What?" he asked, not really following and immediately sitting up. "What do you mean?"

"What about my greater good?" she rephrased and sat there, right by his side. He didn't put his arms around her, he seemed to be afraid that she would once again push him away. "You're not alone anymore, Marcus," she went on when meeting his dear brown eyes. "You don't get to die a martyr. You have me to live for. You owe me that much after you made me love you!"

"_I _made you love me?" he asked, clearly surprised. "You made me love you," he confessed and finally dared to reached his hand to her and cover her cheek.

"We made each other," she agreed and he nodded.

"I'm sorry," he apologized when gently brushing his fingers against his skin. "I never meant to hurt you. There was… There just wasn't any way out of the situation at the time, Sky. I rather die myself for everyone, for you, than watch the grounders burn the whole camp to the ground with you in it."

She nodded, biting her lower lip to stop the tears that wanted to escape. She would not cry. She would be happy.

"We don't know what tomorrow brings," she whispered when cupping Marcus's face and taking in the tiredness seen on his face. "We only have right now. We've always had and that's all that we'll ever have."

"Yes," he agreed. "It's all we, humans, have."

"I love you. I'm tired of fighting," she whispered nearly against his lips and then she kissed him, moaning in pleasure as his lips opened to let her tongue in, as his arms enveloped her body. She straddled him, kissing him and grazing herself against him. She knew he was exhausted and needed rest, but they also needed each other. All they had was right now and they were making the best of it.

They shed their clothes and made love to each other and then, even if their bodies seemed sated, they still needed each other. Sky laid with her head on Marcus's chest just above his heart. She loved to listen to the sound of it beating, to the sound of life. He put his arms around her and finally, he managed to fall asleep. At this moment, in the middle of nowhere on the planet called Earth and in the temporarily camp, he felt like home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I made another video for this story. This one picks up where the first one left off:

youtube

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><p>watch?v=a9026FNXJdI<p>

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><p>full link in my profile<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 09**

The next few days after Finn's death were even harder on the sky people as they set out to the grounders' camp to celebrate the newly attained and very fragile alliance. It was almost destroyed then and there when someone attempted to poison Lexa. Luckily for them all, Clarke discovered that it was one of the grounders and saved Raven's life as she was a suspect because of her close connection to Finn.

"Love is weakness," Clarke said in a numb tone when Sky came over to her to talk. The young girl was so troubled and lost that she needed help.

"No," Sky denied, "Clarke, it's not. Don't listen to the grounders. Most of them are savages. Love is power," she disagreed.

"Oh, really?" Clarke snorted when shooting Sky an angry look. "And how much pain you've been through already because of your precious love?... That's what I thought," she added on seeing the slight change in the older girl's face.

"But it's still worth it all," Sky said, very sure of it. She really just wanted to help. Clarke was too young to banish all those feelings that made her human. It could only have dangerous repercussions in the future. The girl needed her mother and Abigail Griffin wasn't there to help her, so somebody else had to try.

"Let's talk about it again when you lose him," Sky received in answer and then Clarke shot approaching Marcus a look and eventually, she just walked away.

"Don't worry, you won't lose me," Kane assured Sky when standing right next to her, clearly having heard at least a part of the conversation. He put his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and squeezed gently.

"You don't know that, Marcus, but it's still not the point. Clarke needs help." Sky faced her lover. "I want to help her."

"Good, because we don't have anyone better to do it," Marcus told her. "Just give her some time. She'll come around."

"I hope so." Sky sighed and then Marcus's warm arms enveloped her. They had their peace, yet once again that day they'd come so close to death. What if their luck would eventually run out? She was scared to even think about it.

"We did it, Sky. For now it's all that matters. We have our peace," Marcus said like he could read her mind. "And we won't make a mistake. We'll all be just fine."

"You can't know that."

"No, but I believe. Like I said, we didn't come all this way to just die."

"I guess we should figure out what to do with Jaha. We can't keep him in confinement forever."

Kane chuckled with his face buried in Sky's hair.

* * *

><p>Sky couldn't truly believe it once she saw it. She was just coming back from her trip to the waterfall when she walked straight into Jaha and a few people making their way through the woods with backpacks. And then Thelonious explained to her that he was actually leading them to the City of Light he'd heard so much about.<p>

"Thelonious, you don't even know if it's real," she noticed.

"No, but I have faith," the answer came.

"Did you tell Marcus what you're doing?" she asked, already suspecting the answer. She knew Kane would never give his consent to Jaha. Not when they were preparing to free their people from Mount Weather.

"Please, Sky, try to understand. Do you really see yourself living here? In the woods forever? You have peace with the grounders now, but you all have a common goal. What will happen once all those people are freed from Mount Weather? Do you really believe we can live in peace then? I will find that City and I will come back for the rest of you," he assured her in a very confident voice.

"I know I can't stop you," Sky finally said, quickly assessing the situation. They were too many people with Jaha against her alone.

"What if you come with me?" Thelonious actually asked, but his voice betrayed that he knew she wouldn't.

"We both know that's never gonna happen," she confirmed his thoughts.

"Can I at least ask you to keep it a secret long enough so Marcus won't send people after us?"

"Only as long as it's necessary," Sky agreed, sighing. She owed that to Jaha.

"Thank you." He smiled. "That's all I can ask for." He was already turning to start off again when she stopped him.

"Thelonious?"

"Yes?" He turned to look back at her.

"May we meet again. In this life," she added after a moment.

He just nodded, smiled at her sadly and then he and the rest of his followers were gone. She realized she might actually never see him again and it pained her.

* * *

><p>When Sky made her way back to the camp, the grounders and the sky people were trying to teach each other something. Marcus and Indra were both supervising the training and, of course, it didn't go as smoothly as they might want it to.<p>

She made her way to Kane quickly, circling the place where the grounders were showing off their combat skills, to avoid getting accidentally hurt.

"Hi," she said when smiling and placing her hand on Marcus's arm once she reached him. "Are you doing all right?" she asked.

"Well, we didn't start off very well, but it's gotten better," Marcus answer when draping one of his arms around his girlfriend. "You? Any trouble on your way to the waterfall?"

"None." She shook her head, deciding that it would be better if she told him about Thelonious the next day. There were too many grounders now in case Marcus wanted to send someone after his friend. Sky also thought that Jaha had the right to go wherever he pleased. He wasn't a prisoner in this world and it was big enough for them. They would have to explore it eventually anyway.

She let go off Marcus with the intention to go to the their room to take a nap when she suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded.

"Sky?" she heard her lover's worried voice like through a bad connection. "Sky?" This time there was fear in it and then, nothing.

* * *

><p>"Sky? Sky? Are you all right? Sky?!" Marcus's urgent voice seemed to bring her back. For a moment there she was disoriented and she didn't know where she was. Then she recognized the ceiling of the room in which they created a medical unit.<p>

"What… what happened?" her was voice was too hoarse and Marcus seemed to notice since immediately there was a vessel put to her mouth with a water inside. She drunk it all with gratefulness and then repeated, "What happened?"

"You fainted," Marcus informed her , his face anxious and worried. "Are you eating, Sky? Maybe you're just malnourished…" he started and looked over at Jackson, looking for some medical diagnosis that would shed light on all that happened.

"She seems to be eating just fine, Chancellor," Jackson notified. "I think it's exhaustion or stress. You need to take it easy, Sky. There's nothing to worry about anymore."

_Sure, there isn't, _Sky thought sarcastically, but didn't say it out loud. The truth was that their people were still in Mount Weather and they'd just sent one of the 100 there, Bellamy Blake, to turn off the defenses. Clarke Griffin wasn't in the right state of mind at the moment and there was nothing Sky could do about it since the girl was with Lexa in the grounders' camp. And now Thelonious ventured out into the unknown in hope of finding the so-called City of Light. She might never see him again. She might have to go through the pain of losing him _again_. Yes, everything was just peachy!

"I'll be fine. I'll take a better care of myself," Sky promised instead. She didn't need to worry Marcus anymore since he had enough on his plate at the moment.

"Good. Just to be on the safe side, I think you should stay in bed till next morning," Jackson advised.

* * *

><p>"Argh, I'm gonna be sick!" Sky exclaimed when wincing and getting up. She quickly grabbed a bucket she spotted and relieved herself.<p>

Once she was done, she sat on the floor and took a deep breath when supporting her elbows on her knees. She really needed to brush her teeth now, she thought with disgust.

"Have you been sick in the morning recently?" She nearly jumped, startled on hearing Jackson's voice coming from the door.

"A little queasy I guess," she answered, shrugging. "It's nothing. It's probably just some virus… or the fact that I ran myself down completely... What?" she asked, not really getting the look on Jackson's face. "Hey! Why are you smiling?!"

"Sky, I think…" he stopped for a moment, "I think you're going to be the very first woman from the Arc who will give birth on the ground."

For a moment Sky just sat there, looking at Jackson and feeling completely flabbergasted.

"Wait… what?" Only as she thought about it, she knew he was right. She and Marcus were together in a committed relationship and they slept together pretty regularly. It'd been some time since they'd landed on Earth and they'd had sex the very first night. More than once.

"Can I congratulate you?" Jackson asked, not really sure what to say since Sky wore a very ambiguous expression on her face. "Sky?" he said her name when she stared into the space for a little bit too long.

Finally, she shook her head and got up from her position on the ground.

"I need to brush my teeth," she said to Jackson's surprise, but he figured that she was just in shock. It would pass and then maybe, she would be happy.

"That's good news, Sky," he tried again when she was passing him in the door.

She sent him a small smile. "I know, it's just… with the upcoming war and all… do me a favor and don't tell Marcus, all right? I will do it myself once the time is right."

"I wish we had an ultrasound here," Jackson sighed. "That way you could know for sure. And of course, I promise."

"I'll know soon enough anyway." Sky shrugged and left the medical. She needed to tell Marcus about Thelonious's departure first. Soon Kane would notice the absence of his friend and start to worry. And then there was a war to win. She wasn't sure of anything right now. It could as well be a virus, they couldn't know without the ultrasound. First things first. Bellamy needed to report to them and then they had to figure out a plan.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10**

"Hey, you know, you need to take a proper care of yourself," she heard Marcus as he took the chair opposite her by the table in their makeshift cafeteria.

Sky looked up at him, surprised.

"You fainted," he said when handing her over some fried meat. "Back in the Ark we didn't need so much nutrition since we couldn't even run, but this, here, we need our strength to survive, especially in such dark times."

Sky smiled toward him sadly, her face pale in the light coming from the ship's remaining power. "Will it ever be over, Marcus?" she asked and finally bit into the meat. "We came down here and we're still fighting."

"Life is a fight," Kane said. "At least that's what the grounders say."

"I wouldn't believe their every word," Sky made up her mind. "They aren't civilized even if we try to believe otherwise. Their practices… it makes me sick to even think about them." Yes, a lot of things made her sick lately and there was only one explanation for that. She wasn't particularly sure if she was happy about that outcome or not. It wasn't that she didn't want to become a mother. Marcus's child was growing inside her and it made her feel so much love toward him and the baby. She was just worried that those weren't the right times to raise one. She wanted to give everything to him or her and she just wasn't sure that was possible. She even found herself hoping for Thelonious's return. Maybe if he found the City of Light, he would be able to bring them all there so they could live in peace.

"Let's take it one thing at a time," Marcus said, waking her up from her reverie, "first you need to take care of yourself."

"So do you," she told him when finishing her piece of meat.

"Sky, I can't lose you. I won't," his voice grew serious and then he reached over the table and took her hand. "You're everything to me. I hope you know that."

"I do and it goes both ways," she assured him when meeting his eyes and smiling. Still, it wasn't a smile of happiness, it was forced.

"Then tell me what's wrong."

She remained silent, suddenly avoiding his eyes.

Finally, he said what had been bugging him for quite some time now, "You've been distant those last few days. Is it because of Jaha leaving?"

"No," she gave him the answer he was hoping for. "I mean, I am worried about him, but it's not that."

"You could've gone with him. Did you want to?"

"No, Marcus, I did not." She squeezed his hand gently and looked him in the eye. "My place is with you and we both know it."

"You'd be safer with him."

"You don't know that. He's ventured out into the unknown based on something he heard, a legend that mat not even be true. Who knows what else is out there. Clarke and Lexa ran into a gorilla not so far away from here."

This time Marcus actually smiled and finally took his hand away. "I just… I feel like there is something wrong and I want you to know that I'm here for you. Whatever it is that bothers you, you can tell me. And don't you worry, I'm not planning on being a martyr again. I promise."

"Good, because I…" Sky's heart started pounding as she finally worked up the courage to tell him what she was pretty sure of herself. He didn't deserve to be kept in the dark. He didn't deserve to keep worrying about her while he had so many other things to be worried about.

"Chancellor!" Somebody called in that very moment. "We need you!"

Marcus just sent Sky a forlorn look and followed Sinclair.

* * *

><p>"I know, you're probably worried about Octavia," Raven was just talking to Bellamy over the radio when Marcus stepped inside. "Oh, shit… I'm sorry, Bellamy… Yes, Clarke lied to you, but she'll stop it. You can trust her. She'll warn them all in DC and they'll escape in time, don't worry. Right now you need to focus on what you're about to do. It's important…"<p>

When Raven finished the radio conversation she almost jumped when Marcus asked angrily, "What will happen in DC?!"

"Shit," she cursed again and turned around to face him. "Mount Weather is launching a missile on DC. Bellamy overheard it and Clarke rushed out there to warn everyone."

"And she didn't think that the Chancellor should know?!" Kane growled at Raven. "She just made the decision herself?!"

"She'll help them, Chancellor, I'm sure of it. It's Clarke," Raven said nervously.

"That's not the point!" Marcus screamed and hit the table with his fist. "I'm going after her!"

"She took the last horse…" Raven dared say in a voice so quiet that he barely heard her. "You won't make it in time ."

"Well, I guess I will have to. And I'll deal with Clarke later!" After having said that, Marcus strode out of the control room.

* * *

><p>Marcus didn't even feel his legs anymore and his lungs were burning, but he still refused to lower his pace. He needed to get to DC and personally make sure that everyone was all right. That Sky was all right. How could he be so stupid to let her go to that meeting as his representative? It'd seemed perfectly safe at the time. Their alliance with the grounders held and they stopped attacking each other, therefore the woods were safe and Sky had been so pale recently that he thought she could use some good stroll. Only they'd never anticipated that the danger would come from Mount Weather and it would be airborne.<p>

Finally, he spotted the DC camp and before he managed to even get to the edge of it, he screamed, "Sky! SKY!"

There was a terrible moment of anticipation as he waited for her answer. Why were they still there anyway? He thought. Why people were still there? He didn't understand. Had something happened to Clarke? Hadn't she made it here?

Then he spotted her and Lexa sneaking into the woods.

"Clarke!" he called after her and she froze, then turned around to look at him. Lexa, on the other hand, didn't pay him any attention and she disappeared.

In that moment he knew everything. They hadn't warned anyone because they decided it would be better if the missile hit. Marcus didn't have time to think why. Maybe Mount Weather would notice if they evacuated and then Bellamy would be exposed. Maybe they decided the missile would hit any place a large group went. Marcus didn't care at the moment. He was pissed beyond reason at Clarke and she saw that. There was evident fear in her eyes and the Griffin girl didn't scare easily.

"Marcus?!" he heard Sky calling him and he momentarily forgot about the blonde.

"I'll deal with you later!" he roared toward her and then screamed Sky's name again. "Over here! Come here! Take as many as you can…"

Suddenly, he heard some strange whooshing sound that could indicate only one thing.

"Sky, hurry up!"

And then it hit.

* * *

><p>When Marcus came to, he was deaf for a moment and completely dazed. As his hearing slowly started returning, he realized he'd been thrown up into the air by the force of the explosion, but nothing seemed to be broken. He was more or less all right which he couldn't say about the people he heard moaning in pain back in DC.<p>

_Sky_, crossed his mind and he heaved himself up, wincing in pain as he forced his stiff limbs to work. At least everything seemed to be working properly even if painfully.

"Sky!" he started yelling, his going hoarse from all the dust. "Sky!"

She couldn't be dead. She couldn't be dead. He was thinking as he frantically looked for her. She couldn't be dead. And if something happened to her… Clarke Griffin should run and follow Thelonious, because that would be the only way to save herself.

"Sky!" Marcus was on the verge of desperation by now. His heart pounding violently in his rib cage and he actually feared he would go into cardiac arrest. The cries of pain that seemed to be coming from everywhere didn't help at all. None belonged to Sky though.

And then, finally, when he was about to give up and just sink to his knees and actually break down, he heard her.

"Marcus…"

"Sky! Where are you?!"

It turned out that she wasn't that far away from him after all and luckily for her, far enough from the blast to be more or less ok.

When he finally got to her, his knees gave up and he sank to the ground right next to her. There was a body on her upper chest, crashing her into the ground, so Marcus moved the man who turned out to be one of the grounders.

"I think… I think he saved me…" Sky said. "He was my appointed guard and…"

Marcus assessed the man's injuries. Him being by Sky's side definitely saved her since he had a gaping wound in his back. The warm and soft clothing made of animal fur only helped as he pushed Sky to the ground and protected from the worst.

"Thank you. Thank you so much," Marcus murmured under his breath. He didn't know the man. He wasn't sure he ever saw him around, but he owed him everything.

"You're saving me again," Sky whispered when Marcus brushed the stray hair off her face.

"I'm here, baby," he told her. "I'm here and everything's going to be all right. You're going to be all right."

"Marcus," she suddenly said in an urgent voice, opening her eyes wider, panic on her face. "Marcus, the baby…"

Kane's heart sunk and his expression faltered. "W… What?" he asked in a harsh voice. "Sky, what are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant…" she finally confessed, tears appearing in her eyes and running down her face. "We're going to have a baby… I was going to tell you…"

He could just stare at her, wide-eyed, mouth agape, shock evident on his face.

"Please, please, tell me it's all right. Please, tell me I'm still pregnant," she begged him silently.

If only he'd known, Marcus thought, still in deep shock. If only he'd known, he would've never let her come to DC. He would've never let her out of his sight. His mind was all hazy, too full of emotions to fully comprehend them all at the moment. His hands seemed to be working on their own as he checked if she was bleeding and discovered with great relief that she wasn't. Still, it didn't mean anything, but it wasn't a bad sign.

She drifted off, too tired or too dazed to stay awake and he just heaved her up into his arms and started off toward the camp. There were injured people all around. People that needed help, but he needed to get her to Jackson now. He needed to protect her and his unborn child. He wasn't a doctor. It wasn't like he could help the others. Maybe Clarke would. Maybe there was still something good inside her heart.

Marcus had been exhausted beyond belief even before the blast, but he didn't care. He would carry Sky back to Camp Jaha even if it killed him. He barely even felt any pain or fatigue anymore, his mind still hazy, his body focused on the one task and seeing it till completion. He just found out they were expecting a baby. He heard it right after he thought she died. And there was a strong possibility that he heard it after his child died, too.

* * *

><p>When Marcus emerged from the woods, everyone in the camp was already panicking. They saw the explosion from afar and they were scared of what happened. They got even more terrified once they saw Kane all dirty and bloody, carrying unconscious Sky in his arms.<p>

"Oh my god!" Sinclair got to him first. "What happened?! Give her to me, you can barely stand."

Marcus handed Sky over to Sinclair gently, grateful for the help.

"Careful. She's…" he hesitated. "She's pregnant."

Sinclair paled and then just nodded.

"What happened?!" Raven came running and Marcus could tell she'd been crying. "Clarke… she promised… she… what about our people?!"

"Clarke didn't warn them. Arrest her as soon as you see her," Kane turned to his guards and they nodded. "Mount Weather launched a missile on DC. Lexa and Griffin made it out. I don't know about the others. I'm sorry."

There was sudden silence when Marcus walked past all of his people and disappeared in the wreck.

"Jackson's taking care of her," Sinclair informed when getting to him. "Here, some water. You need it."

"Thank you."

"Jackson also said you can see her when he's done. He doesn't want any distractions."

Marcus nodded and stumbled, nearly collapsing.

"Chancellor, you're exhausted. You need rest," Sinclair advised when catching him and helping him over to a chair.

"What I need is Griffin! It's all her fault!"

"All right, but first you need to drink some more and maybe eat something. It's for your own good. We can't have an unconscious leader. Who's going to tell us what to do?"

Kane saw the reason behind Sinclair's words, so he nodded and decided to go wash up a bit, then he would check up on Sky. He tried hard to push all those thoughts of fatherhood out of his head. This was not the time. For now he needed to stay strong. He needed to have faith. Jaha always had it and now Marcus just wished he could borrow some for himself.

* * *

><p>"She's going to be fine," Jackson informed when finally leaving the medical. Marcus was pacing impatiently behind the door.<p>

"You're sure?" he asked, didn't dare hope just yet. He was especially afraid of one question, but he'd rather know. He took a deep breath and just asked, "What about the baby?"

"She didn't lose it," the so wanted answer came and Marcus released a long breath of relief. That came unexpectedly and leveled him completely. He was just about ready to break down, but he held on for longer. "The pregnancy may be endangered tough," Jackson continued. "Still, it's good news. The bad news is…"

"What?" Marcus prompted. "Just tell me!"

"We may need medical equipment. Sky's been through some serious physical trauma. She's holding on for now, but she needs rest. There's no way to predict what can happen when she delivers the baby."

"What are you saying?" Marcus grew scared.

"I'm saying that we may want to win the war because we need the medical in Mount Weather. I'm sure they have everything we need to help Sky and the baby."

Marcus just nodded, too tired to think about that one now. They still had about eight months till the delivery and he didn't want to brood over any bad scenario right now.

"Can I see her?" he asked.

"Of course."

Sky was lying on a gurney. Her face was clean, a blanket draped over her body.

"Honey, how are you feeling?" Marcus asked when making his way to her and taking the chair next to the gurney. He gently took her hand in his as in fear that he might hurt her by simply holding her.

"I heard you carried me all the way here," she said when looking into his eyes. "Marcus, I… I don't even know what to say. Thank you. Jackson says you might've saved the baby's life."

"I would do anything for you," Marcus assured her when gently caressing her cheek. "And I… Sky, I'm so sorry…" He couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't act strong anymore. He was there alone with the love of his life, the woman he'd been through so much with. If anyone got to see him breaking, it was her. Tears welled up in his eyes and he lowered his head, sobbing quietly.

Sky squeezed his hand and then pulled him closer to her body.

"None of that was your fault," she assured him when running her hand through his hair.

"I should've paid more attention to the kids."

"Marcus, you're doing the best you can."

"I don't think it's enough. I can't control them… Today you might've died because of Clarke. She refused to warn the DC. The blood of all those people is on her hands."

"It's not Clarke," Sky said and Marcus finally raised his head to meet her blue eyes. "It's Lexa's influence. Clarke is so young, Marcus. She thinks she's all grown-up, but she's not. She might be through a lot and she may know how to win a war, but she doesn't know what's right and wrong anymore. I'll try and help her."

"No, you have to rest now. You can't risk losing our baby… Oh, I wish you told me sooner. I wouldn't have let you go to DC in the first place."

"Then you would've gone instead and there would've been no one to warn you. I would've lost you, Marcus, and I wouldn't have been able to stand that."

He shook his head. "Why is all of this so hard?"

"Life is hard. But we can't think about what if now. We need to move forward and be happy that we're both all right."

"But why didn't you want to tell me earlier?" he wanted to know. "Why?"

"At first I just wasn't sure," she explained. "We had no way of checking if I was really pregnant and once I was sure and wanted to tell you… something always came up."

"Nothing will ever be more important to me than my family, I promise you that, Sky."

"Excuse me, Chancellor?" One of the guards knocked on the door. "We found Griffin. We put her in isolation."

"Good," he just said and turned back to Sky. "It can wait. I can stay here as long as you want me to. I just promised, after all."

"No, go. I think I'll take a nap anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She smiled at him tiredly. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He kissed her gently and then stood up and left the room. Once he found himself behind the door, he hardened up again. It was time to talk to Griffin.

* * *

><p>"What the hell was that?!" Kane growled as soon as he entered the isolation and the door closed behind him.<p>

Clarke was sitting on the floor, propped against the wall, her elbows supported on her knees. She looked miserable when she met his eyes and he could tell she'd been crying.

"Lexa…" she just said. "She told me that was the only way to win the war. That she and I were more important and the war always has casualties."

"Those were people, Clarke, not cattle!"

"They would use the missile anyway!" Clarke raised to her feet, defending herself. "If they'd seen us evacuating DC, they would've found another target! We would've died anyway! And Bellamy would've been exposed!"

"Your people were in there!" Marcus growled. "And you don't leave your people behind!" He was so furious and so loud that Clarke was actually scared of him at the moment.

"I'm sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing," she tried to explain.

"The right thing," Marcus repeated mockingly. "The right thing?! You could've killed my unborn baby along with the woman I love!... Maybe you can still do that, because apparently Sky's pregnancy may be endangered and we need the medical equipment from Mount Weather!"

"What?" Clarke actually paled. "Sky is… pregnant?" her voice quiet, shocked.

"YES!" Marcus roared and rubbed his forehead. "Yes, she is!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

"Of course, you didn't! And stop apologizing! It's done and you can't wash your hands from this one! Look at you! You're still a fucking child and you think you can make decisions of such magnitude?! Who made you the Chancellor?!"

At this point Clarke was actually rendered speechless.

"You follow Lexa blindly, forgetting that she's not one of us. We are your people, not her! I know you worked hard on the alliance and I am thankful for that, but let's face the truth! If it hadn't been for you, kids, the alliance would've been made a long time ago with no life lost! Finn slaughtered a whole fucking village and you… oh, yes, you actually had to kill him for it. That's not good leadership. You are a child, not the Chancellor, and I don't care about your experience here before we came along. Back then you had to fight, but now… now it's time to let us, the grown-ups, do the work! A good leader isn't ruthless and trust me, I've been there, so I know. But I've also learnt from my mistakes. It took me over thirty years to do that, but I've done it. You're barely nineteen! What can you really know?"

"Are you finished?" Clarke just asked in a blank voice.

"Yes," he said, lowering his tone when all his anger and frustration found its outlet. "Will you start listening to me now and quit thinking you know better?"

"Kane, I'm sorry," Clarke said to his surprise. "I didn't see before how much you've changed. I was even surprised that Sky…" She bit her tongue before she went any further with this. "I just… I don't know who I am anymore and who I should be listening to. Lexa seemed to know everything. She told me how to deal with grief."

"You don't deal with grief by shutting yourself up for feelings," Marcus told her. "You feel the lost. You learn to live with it. You learn from it. You know, my mother died, too. And I was so… unpleasant to her before her death… The last words I ever said to her…" He closed his eyes and shook his head, refusing to face that particular memory at the moment. "Let us help you. Us. Not the grounders."

"I… I'll think about it… I promise," Clarke said. "And I… I'm really sorry."

Marcus didn't say anything to that, he just left.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

Whether Marcus wanted it or not, he was forced to release Clarke from confinement. The pact they had with the Grounders was still very fragile, maybe it would always be, and Clarke seemed to be the one link tying them all together. Somehow Lexa's people trusted her and they couldn't know the truth about the missile. Kane understood it, he really did when putting all his personal issues with the Griffin girl aside. That was just the hard part of being a leader and having to do what was best for the greater good. He just couldn't afford another conflict with the Grounders, he couldn't afford them knowing what Lexa and Clarke had done. Also, as much as he wanted to wait for Bellamy to turn off the acid fog and march to attack the Mouth Weather himself, he decided he wouldn't go. He promised Sky that he would be careful and now that she was pregnant with his child, he truly didn't want to risk his life anymore. He would hate for his son or daughter to be raised in such hard conditions without a father. Still, he realized that he would stay just the same if Sky wasn't pregnant. He wouldn't be able to leave her once again in fear that he might not come back this time. His life had used to be so complicated with all the hatred he'd suffered from people and the hard decisions he'd needed to make, but now, it was even more so. How were they supposed to keep a small, defenseless child safe? He could only hoped that once it was born, the war would be over.

After checking in with Raven and Wick, finally confident that no one was hiding anything else from him, Marcus walked straight to his and Sky's place. After a night in medical she'd been allowed to leave, but she still needed to take it easy since they couldn't examine her properly. The most important part right now was that she was still pregnant and Marcus would make sure it stayed that way.

The moment he opened the door to their small room, he heard steps behind him and noticed Clarke when he turned around.

"Shouldn't you be with Lexa?" he asked her in a harsh voice. "You have a war to go to."

"Chancellor, again I am very sorry for what happened. I just wanted to talk to Sky before I'll go. I need to apologize to her in person as well." Clarke seemed down, defeated, like she was completely lost, didn't know what to believe in and what to do anymore. Somehow, something about her expression reminded Marcus of himself not such a long time ago. Still, he wasn't sure he was ready to forgive and forget just yet. The woman he loved more than anything could've died in that explosion. One couldn't just get over such things.

"It's all right, Marcus," he heard Sky saying from the inside of the room. "You can let her in. I want to talk to her."

Kane, albeit reluctantly, opened the door wider so Clarke might walk inside, then he decided he wasn't going to leave Sky alone with Griffin just yet and walked in as well, closing the door behind them and folding his arms on his chest.

"Sky, I…" Clarke started when looking at the pale woman in bed. "I'm… I'm so sorry," Clarke's voice broke and it was clear that she was fighting tears. "I know I've made a mistake. I shouldn't have listened to Lexa. I should've known better. You were right, I guess. Love isn't weakness, it's strength."

Marcus's expression softened as he thought that one day he might have a daughter, a daughter just like Clarke. And she might make mistakes, too. No, she wouldn't, he decided right then and there. She wouldn't, because he and Sky would be there for her, they would raise her right and prevent what they were seeing right now. Kids needed guidance. Maybe sending the 100 to Earth in the first place wasn't such a good idea. Maybe they should've sent adults. Maybe Marcus himself should've gone along with that mission? Still, it was too late now. All they could do was to move on and learn from their mistakes.

"Clarke, it's ok," Sky finally said and gestured for the girl to come closer. "I understand that you're lost, I do. And although I can't begin to understand how it is to lose someone you loved, how…" Sky stopped right there as she didn't want to say it aloud. Clarke had loved Finn and she'd been forced to take his life in order to spare him pain and agony. Suddenly, Sky imagined herself having to do the same thing to Marcus. She wouldn't survive that. She would die as well. It was no wonder that Clarke had broken and made a few poor decisions. Now she had to live with the consequences of them and that was even worse. It made Sky sick that kids, because yes, the 100 were still kids even if they were forced to grow up fast, had to go through it all. "Still, I know how it is to be scared out of your mind that the man you love might be dead," Sky started off again, looking at Marcus who was still standing near the door. Their eyes met for a brief moment and Sky's heart ached. She was so lucky that she'd survived. That the baby had survived. And she was also lucky that Marcus was there, alive and well and she could just reach out and touch him. She couldn't even imagine him not being with her, especially when there was no one else she could find support in. Thelonious was gone and who knew what had happened to him, whether he was even still alive.

"I just wanted to apologize and I want you to know that I will get to Mount Weather. We will win this war and I will get you that ultrasound and all the medical you may need," Clarke promised, her voice hardening, determined.

"Thank you, Clarke," was all Sky could say. "Just… take care of yourself for me, ok? Don't rush out there to die. We need you alive. Your mother would want you to go on and make a life for yourself. You can still do that despite all that you've done in the past, trust me. Marcus did."

Clarke turned around to look at Kane, although she did it sheepishly like she was still afraid that he might lash out at her again at any moment. Then she realized that Sky was right.

"I'm no better, Clarke, really," Kane agreed to Clarke's astonishment. "And if it wasn't for the fact that Sky was there and pregnant…" he stopped, closed his eyes and shook his head, then looked at the girl again, "then I guess I wouldn't have lost control like I did with you. I should have understood. After all, you were doing what you were taught on the Ark."

"No, Chancellor, I should've known better," Clarke disagreed, refusing to accept what he tried to tell her. "And I can't change what I did, but I can make better decisions from now on. I promise I will do anything in my power to try."

"I believe in you, Clarke, and If you ever want to talk, that's what I'm here for," Sky offered her help.

"Thank you." Clarke nodded, her voice growing thick. "Lexa's waiting for me. I need to go. I promise to keep you updated."

"Be careful," Sky repeated once again when Clarke turned to leave and soon, she was left alone with Marcus.

"I'm proud of you," Sky told him when he made his way to the bed and sat on the edge of it.

"Why?" he wondered.

"What you said to her… I know it was hard for you."

"Yeah," he admitted, nodding. "You know, the truth is that ever since I found you there, injured…" his voice trailed off for a moment, the memories still haunting him, "I know now what you felt while I went away to negotiate with the grounders for peace. When I… cut myself," he admitted, avoiding her eyes. "If I died, our child wouldn't have a father."

"But you didn't. You came back to me," Sky said urgently and cupped his face, forcing him to look at her as she raised herself to a sitting position. "And you're here now. We're safe for now. That's all I could ever ask for."

"I'm sorry. I know I apologized to you before, but now… I see everything from a completely different perspective and I'm scared out of my mind for our family. I don't even know if I can be a good father, Sky," he confessed, finally looking into her blues.

"I am confident that you will be. All the best fathers never had a good childhood," she said.

"That doesn't make any sense," Marcus frowned.

"It does. You know what kind of a childhood you had when losing your father so fast, never truly getting to know him. And now you're worried that your kid will have to go through something similar. Well, let me tell you that he or she won't have to, because you're already doing what a good father would. You're here, with me."

"Well, that and the fact that I'm still sore all over after I carried you back to the camp," Marcus pointed out, trying to brighten the mood and succeeding as she laughed merrily.

"Oh, really? How sore?" she asked when capturing his mouth with hers and kissing him softly. "So sore that you can't do anything?"

"Well, I guess I can do something…" he admitted. "But will it be all right with the baby?"

"Marcus, I'm not sick and I didn't lose it. I feel fine. I don't think we can do any damage."

"Well, if you're sure…"

* * *

><p>When Sky woke up the next morning, Marcus was sitting on the edge of their bed, a tray full of full placed nearby.<p>

"Mmmhhh… breakfast in bed, how romantic," she cooed when smiling to him. "Did you bring me something special?" she asked.

"Well, there wasn't much I could do with the limited choices we have, but… I managed to salvage some delicious fruit for you and I even make you herbal tea."

"Are you absolutely sure that you didn't make it when brewing something poisonous?" Sky teased him, laughing at the expression on his face.

"The grounders told us everything we need to know about the plants and I don't think they're planning on killing us since they need us to get to Mount Weather," Kane explained.

"I was just teasing you, baby. You look so cute when you're angry." Sky couldn't stop with the jokes and now she laughed even harder at the insulted expression of his.

"I'm not sure I like the giddy you in the morning. Maybe I should stop making you so happy…" he pretended to threaten her and then he brought his face to hers and kissed her softly and with affection.

"That's more like it. Good morning," she said when they parted. "And now I would really like some of this tea."

"Coming right up!"

"So, do you have any news? Did they reach Mount Weather?" Sky asked when she drunk her tea and now started to eat, sharing her food with Marcus when feeding him with her hand. He smiled at her. Romantic moments came by so hard those days for them that once they had one, they enjoyed it as long as they could. For now Marcus wasn't needed anywhere, Clarke having things under control. He still had doubts whether he should trust her, but when it came to the offence directed toward Mount Weather, he knew that Clark's head and heart was in the right place.

"Raven and Wick just left. They built bombs to blow up the turbines that provide power for the bunker. Once they succeed, our team will have exactly one minute to open the door to Mount Weather, but it's all we really need."

"Let's hope everything goes smoothly. We cannot afford to lose any more lives."

"You're still worried about him, don't you?" Marcus asked, feeling their moment fleeting away as Sky's expression grew somber.

"You mean Thelonious? Of course, I am. I try not to, but…" she released a sigh. "When not counting you and the baby, he's the closest person I have to a family. I just wish I knew where he was and whether he was still alive."

"I think he's ok," Marcus said. "He hasn't survived so long just to die now."

"Careful there, because I may actually start to think that you've turning into him. A man of faith rather than science."

"Oh, no," Marcus shook his head, smiling fondly at her. "I will never be exactly like Thelonious. Sometimes his faith is just…"

"Crazy?" Sky finished what she knew Marcus was about to say, but eventually refused to.

"Well, yes..." he admitted slowly. "But if it helps him not to give up, then it's all right with me. You know, when I was taken by the grounders and thrown into the pit with Jaha, he was the one to give me something to believe in again. I thought that everything we did was for nothing. That we came to the Earth and survived the journey just to die, be killed by the grounders. I thought we had no right to invade their lands when we'd already left them there to die once," Marcus told her and she just listened to him intently, scooting over and resting her head on his shoulder. "And then Jaha said that we survived for a reason. That we couldn't just find our way back to Earth to die here so soon. We came here to live."

"I should thank him," Sky thought about it and then added, "To be honest, I'm not sure I even thanked him for saving your life back there. I was just so shocked when seeing him and worrying about you…"

"Hey, we're all right now. We'll be just fine, I promise," Marcus said, meeting her eyes and then kissing her again. "After all, we've come so far, so maybe Thelonious was right."

Sky chuckled. "I wish he could be here right now to hear you say that. The look on his face would be just priceless."

"Making fun of me again?" Marcus pretended to be offended. "Yes, I should definitely stop kissing you altogether," he decided.

"Hey!" She swatted him lightly on the chest. "Not funny! I'm carrying your child and I deserve some extra affection from you just for that! And don't even get me started on giving birth, because I'm already scared out of my mind when I think of it!"

"Hey, you can't stress yourself so much," Marcus pointed out, his voice carrying a hint of worry. He shifted his position so he was now facing her and he gently took her chin between his thumb and index finger, so she would look at him. "First we need to make sure the baby survives. You cannot stress yourself, ok? Remember what Jackson said. And you have me to lean on in you need to. I'm not going anywhere. We'll get through this together, I promise."

Sky just nodded, fighting tears. Sometimes, especially in moments like this one, she was being overwhelmed by her love for Marcus. She remembered when she'd first met him, she'd liked him instantly, but he'd seemed to lost, so troubled back then. Now he was a confident and strong leader and a wonderful boyfriend and lover to her. He'd changed for the better, he'd grown so much.

"Your mother would be so proud of you if she could see you right now," Sky told him when cupping his face and looking him deep in the eye. She knew this was the greatest compliment she could master and she was met with a grateful, loving and a little bit nostalgic gaze.

"Thank you," he just said, his voice growing hoarse.

* * *

><p>"Still nothing?" Sky asked when Marcus came back to her that day in the afternoon.<p>

"I'm starting to be worried. Why is it taking so long?" he voiced his concerns as he was pacing through the room. "There's something wrong. Sky? Sky?" he turned around as he didn't receive any answer from her and he froze, eyes opening widely in horror as he took in one of the grounders standing there and holding his Sky, his hand covering her mouth. She was terrified and Marcus felt helpless again. It was a feeling that he despised the most. His job was to protect her and now she was in danger. Added to that, not only her life was threatened, but also their unborn child's.

"What are you doing?" Marcus asked the grounder. "What is all of this?" He didn't get his answer, neither did he get to save or warn anyone, because somebody knocked him down when hitting him in the head from behind.

Then there was only darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Ok, let me just tell you that I'm pretty freaked out again. First, I didn't realize that the second season only has 16 episodes, which is more than the last one had, but still not enough for me! Next week there's the season finale and then a long waiting for season 3. I'm not sure what I will do with this story, but it will probably be continued as the third season airs, which means… yeah, in a few months. Unless I'll figure something else out. I will definitely write another update next week and another video is coming up to sweeten the waiting process.


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